Poetry from the Land and Sky

Precious ones, the past few days have been so incredibly full that I haven't yet had time to process all that I've seen and experienced. And the major internet provider here in East Africa has been down for nearly 3 days, so I've been totally out of touch. Recent photos have not been posted and even my journaling has not been happening with regularity since I've been so exhausted in the evening. And so, tonight, I'm only sharing some poems I wrote on Monday and Tuesday. We return to Nairobi on Friday and will be able to be on-line with some regularity, and so will begin to catch you up on what I have been seeing and doing here in Rwanda. I guess, tonight, I can only say that I hope you will look at every good thing in your life with deep appreciation- your spacious home, your comfortable bed, your bathroom, your refrigerator, your washer and dryer...I could go on and on. Most of all, love and cherish your family, for so many here lost all or most of those they loved in the genocide in 1994. Kwaheri! Lala salama. (Goodbye- sleep well.)

disturbing dreams...

Mind and heart on overload...

Faces permanently etched in memory,

Populating thoughts and dreams...

Women, children of every shape and size

March across the theater of sleep.

Refuse to exit but remain determinedly

Center-stage, reminders of the depth

Of poverty and need in which they are

Immersed...seemingly sinking and yet

Courageously, determinedly refusing

To be drowned, defeated...

       Will I ever sleep undisturbed again?

a flying vision

High above the clouds

High above the earth

Another-worldly sense pervades,

and reality is far, far away.

I step out and walk upon the clouds,

bask in the sunlight, revel in the solitude,

caressed by the perpetual zephyrs,

welcomed by the feathery softness

as I venture daringly toward eternity,

existence undisturbed by human cares...

truly, fully care-free...

                              and then

the seat-belt light flashes...

"We are preparing for landing in Kigali..."

and I am drawn back

to be earthbound once again.

hope-less?

Time zones collide...

currency swims in my head...

     shillings, francs, dollars...

shattering the sense of unity

for which I long,

one-ness a waking dream-

     yet always just beyond my grasp...

One world?

One humanity?

One heart and mind?

Or will our differences always divide-

     and in dividing, conquer?

Yet I hold fast, cling with desperation

and occasionally despair to that

dream,

     even as the realities of

     life assault me day after day.