They burned my
great, great, great
grandmothers
at the stake
of dogma
to eviscerate their power
erase their knowledge.
But their souls
became seeds
planted in my DNA
like trees blossoming
now in their full glory.
Their blood is my blood,
their wisdom sings
in my heart
and I carry their voices
in my bones.
They sing:
“We will not be silenced.
We will not abide by
their unrighteous laws,
their lies and their subterfuge.
They killed our bodies
but they can never kill
our spirits.
Our wailing tongues
proclaim our righteous fury,
the rage that ignites
and unifies us in our
unending anthem.
They will never be able
to fully contain the ocean
that is Us.
We will not disappear,
no matter how hard they try,
for we are many
and we have been here
since time began.
Because we women,
the mothers, sisters, aunts, and nieces
the whole world round,
will be here
long after the oligarchs
and autocrats
have taken their final breath.”
They burned our great, great, great
grandmothers,
but the ashes from their
charred bones
were carried on the wind,
their cries have not gone unheeded.
We who came after, remember.
We will honor their legacy,
forever,
from rivers and seas
to shorelines
and mountaintops,
from small town valleys
to bustling cities
we will call down
our midnight powers
once more
to fight for justice
to work for peace
to ensure equality
to dance and sing
and howl at the moon
invoking the stars
calling on the clouds
shaking the sky
with our supplication.
We are mighty.
We are strong.
We are fierce.
We are eternal.
We are unstoppable.
We will not be deterred.