A Year of Seeing: January 6, 2020: “I Scream with my Fingers”

I Scream with my Fingers

 

Is it not enough to grow roses?

To bow to the curve of a stem,

to respect the thorn that stifles

     my greed,

to show devotion not to a friend,

no, something deeper and truer still?

 

Brushing petals trains my hands to

     be gentle–

perhaps my heart can take a cue.

 

With my hands plunged into the

     moist, dark earth,

they are unable to grasp anything

but that which will one day

     hold me–

the fierce grace of grounding.

 

In the face of such fear and anger,

when hot tears perch on the lips

of my eyes and that part of me

craves to do something,

 

I scream with my fingers.

 

SH 1/6/2020