Barefoot and exhausted, her body ached with every move.
Her heart was apprehensive, though her soul quietly soothed.
Her ancestors’ cloth and leather strings wrapped around her-
Swollen breasts, bloody streaks and a womb empty from labor.
In her arms- tiny and perfect, brown curls and hopeful eyes,
Five tiny fingers clutching the strings, an instinct to stay alive.
The little one feared nothing, while her mother feared it all.
Her heart beat faster and faster while she answered the call-
Towards the beating drums, towards the light, and the heat,
Forever moving forward, the mother’s tired, aching feet.
Until soon, she approached the flames and there she did pause
The drums quieted, the elders waited and she stood for her cause.
Desperate for answers or a sign of affirmation
She came to the Fire God for a mother’s confirmation
“Tell me I can do this!”, she pled in her mind,
Praying the response from the flames would be kind …
“The journey ahead of you is long and hard and the answers I have are few;
But the love you have is stronger than you know, for this life you hold, that is new.”
“Promise me god of all the fires, that my baby will always be safe,
For my soul cannot carry the burden of her hurt or the tears that her eyes will chafe.”
“That I cannot not promise,” came the voice amongst the flames
“Life is a battle not a series of games.
Assurance lies not in circumstance.
Pull from these flames that flicker and dance,
The strength of the warriors who fought in these fields.
And when the day comes, that her tears flow without yield
And her heart looks to you in panicked hurry,
Call upon it without hesitation- of a pain stricken mother, there’s no greater fury.”
“Dear fire gods,
I fear I’ve not got enough strength, to fight what you say might be coming…
My hands are weak, my feet are tired, and my insides are painfully groaning.
How am I to survive this long journey?
I fear of her perfection, I may not be worthy…”
“I assure you dear woman, you were chosen by the stars
To mother this child, despite your flaws and your scars.
You are the greatest teacher she will know-
Knowledge, love, and skills, to her you will show.
Don’t be afraid, for tonight you will gain
The fuel that will power you through all of your pain.
Inside of each mother is the strength of the fire, that when summoned will easily burn
every heartache and threat that touches her child, into embers those threats will be turned.”
In silence she departed, unsure of her strength, but clutching her babe, knuckles white.
Ne’er would the world know a greater strength, than a mother, for her child, does fight.
As she settled back to rest on the floor made of earth,
Her swollen breast eased, as her babe began to nurse.
With one hand she held her newborn; from inside her, the milk and blood flowed.
And with the other, she held her spear, and the fire in her heart glowed.
It would be many moons before the battle would come-
When it did, there’d be no chanting or beating of drums;
But that fire that was lit so many nights ago-
That fire still burned, and it wouldn’t let go.
Until she avenged every blade that was thrown
At the babe she once held, a piece of her own.
Fighting for the ultimate success of humanity,
Is the mother whose child is loved to infinity.
But that babe no longer held leather ties,
But a spear of her own, that through the air did fly.
And side by side, they battled the beasts
That on womens’ hearts, set prey to feast.
And soon the old mother came to understand,
That a spark from the fire, on her offspring did land.
And when the day would come, that her daughter had her own,
A resurgence of fire would encircle her throne.
No man or beast would ever take her down
or tarnish the brilliance of Woman’s great crown.
