FOR BAILEY <br /> <br />We were entwined in red rings <br />Of blood and loneliness before <br />The first snows fell <br />Before muddy rivers seeded clouds <br />Above a virgin forest, and <br />Men ran naked, blue and black <br />Skinned into the warm embraces <br />Of Sheba, Eve and Lilith. <br />I was your sister. <br /> <br />You left me to force strangers <br />Into brother molds, exacting <br />Taxations they never <br />Owed or could ever pay. <br /> <br />You fought to die, thinking <br />In destruction lies the seed <br />Of birth. You may be right. <br /> <br />I will remember silent walks in <br />Southern woods and long talks <br />In low voices <br />Shielding meaning from the big ears <br />Of overcurious adults. <br /> <br />You may be right. <br />Your slow return from <br />Regions of terror and bloody <br />Screams, races my heart. <br />I hear again the laughter <br />Of children and see fireflies <br />Bursting tiny explosions in <br />An Arkansas twilight.<br /><br />Maya Angelou<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/kin-4/
