Sarah speaks... finally
Trip Start
Unknown
1
14
Trip End
Ongoing
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, December 19, 2008
you are the trash collector
pushing the remains of the day into putrid piles
you are the farmer
moving your machete like a metronome across the tall grass
you are the hunter
following your dinner elbow deep in the mud of the mangrove swamp
you are the mother
wearing hungry babies like extra skin, stretching out your life in each breast
you are beautiful dark angels.
war and wind are like bamboo and rice here
just part of the landscape
and your straw hat plots points down a long dirt road
i follow the swoops and swells of your broken gate
and the arcs of indigo from your swinging hands
i buy your crafts to cloak my guilt for not being that poor, for having teeth, for seeing your land and loving it
and because secretly i want to be your sister
you wear your work in baskets and buckets
like crowns, they adorn your head
with invisible strings stretching down from heaven
yours are the longest shadows ever cast.
and with a handkerchief slung from ear to ear
like a hammock to hold up your smile
you smile. you do.
Comments
At last from the shadows...Sarah
We always know when Lane is about, that what he feels cannot be contained, and soon will come the song. That is why we love him and can hardly wait for his return, so he can connect us to where he has been and what he has seen.
But I have believed from the outset this was to be in some special way Sarah's journey. As you have waited to know your sisters, many of us have waited to hear your voice as well. Thanks for the greatest gift of the season of 'swoops and swells' and 'arcs of indigo'.
May God protect you both and bring you home soon. Lane to his mission, and you to yours. Would you please in time paint for a world that needs to see them 'the longest shadows ever cast.' I'd travel far to be the first to see what you see.
Ransom T