Be Kind To Your Shadow
Poem by Belinda Zhawi
after Kindness by Naomi Shahib Nye
o, shadow
before you learn the meaning of kindness
you must be be cut with your own truth –
at your own hands. you must be stripped bare
whilst still green
like the foraged parts of maize stalks,
left out to dry after harvest.
first, the fresh cobs
followed by the leaves
when the earth is shaken out of the roots
your throat might knot in envy
at the audacity of such shedding
such light weight
before you learn the warm weight of benevolence
o, shadow of mine, you must ask the skies:
who said to raise the girls
five steps behind their brothers?
who set the sun last night; rose it this morning?
who placed this breath in these lungs? who breathes this body?
who? who? who gave me this voice?
placed it in a valley deeper than most. who arranged the stars
& pulled that moon
so close to the waters of this plane?
dear shadow –
all you need is breath; this body is the only place
you will follow, always live in, till we die.
dear shadow – if I were to ever rid myself of you
then it must’ve been a busy week –
a stormy week.
just like that one when venus entered pisces –
the winds lifting roofs off high streets
& the rain brought in a cabinet of crooks & they said
they wanted their country back & we wondered – who made
these hearts so easy to harden
you have to be cut
with your own truth at your own hands
like the foraged parts of green maize stalks
left out to dry after harvest.
foraged to return
back into the soil
or to feed the cows