In Memory of Lucille Clifton: June 27, 1936 – February 13, 2010

the gift

there was a woman who hit her head
and ever after she could see the sharp
wings of things blues and greens
radiating from the body of her sister
her mother her friends when she felt

in her eyes the yellow sting
of her mothers dying she trembled
but did not speak her bent brain
stilled her tongue so that her life
became flash after flash of silence

bright as flame she is gone now
her head knocked again against a door
that opened for her only
i saw her last in a plain box smiling
behind her sewn eyes there were hints
of purple and crimson and gold

Clifton, Lucille (2004), Mercy. BOA Editions, Ltd. (Rochester, NY)