somewhere near the shore was her childhood home
a place of intense poverty, but filled with great love
she can remember her mother as she would stand
over the fire preparing the families meals
singing beautiful songs of her villages history
her voice could be heard through the open window
whose light was filtered by an acacia tree and a yellow curtain
waving in the ocean breeze like a flag to sanctuary

and in that place today flows an estuary
carved out in a single day as the sea
battled with the earth; the earth losing to the sea
she can still see the shade tree by her mothers
favorite window, it’s leaves now stripped clean
standing now in the middle of a stream
with a yellow cloth hanging from a limb
waving in the ocean breeze, like a flag to sanctuary

she stands on the newly formed river bank
bends to pick to pick up a clump of sand in her grief
as the sand filters through her fingers a bronze ring
with a faint inscription falls to the ground, inside are the words:
“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
she looks up to the sky, crying for her mother
whose ring she now holds, the yellow curtain breaks free
waving in the ocean breeze flying to the sea, gone now, is her sanctuary

copyright © 2004 sara coslett