Carefully Chosen Words

I’ve been blessed to know this traveler of continents,  
watching her grow from a child.
In youth, she met her poet, yet used words sparingly  
while I rattled on in endless prose.  
I became her accepting friend and she mine,  
unconditional in every way.    
 
She grew into an African flower,  
and I rested in her charms.  
My face pressed against her stomach  
to hear rhythms of heart and breath,  
the sounds of a life that might not have been  
but for fate and the kindness of strangers’ graces.  
 
She has a strength that forms an aura,  
and I’m astonished to have entered that space.  
I felt her power and, for the first time, feared to speak.  
She was silent except for a single sigh that opened a door.  
I whispered carefully chosen words into the dark while  
gazing at the mysterious shadow of flesh only inches away,  
a sentinel at the gate of pleasures and future lives.  
 
I whispered…  
Flesh of Earth’s beauty and richness  
Spirits worthy of a queen  
To seek or suspend from my seeking?  
These are choices only her heart should decide  
 
I felt the rise of a long breath and questioned the silence.  
Then cool silky fingers brushed across my ears and temple  
to the back of my neck where they gently pressed  
me downward toward the answer to my question.