Love Me Right

I got rivers flowing through my breast;

ancient rivers that griots tell stories about

that babies suckle from

that tiny toes dance through

I got rivers flowing through my breast

Elephant trunks sip

Grandmothers bathe in

Grandfathers are baptized in

Love me right

I got a cowry shelled belly that houses the Sun

Fruits and vegetables nurse in

Blue-black slaves hide in

Lost souls rest in

My children played in

Love my belly, love my belly, love my belly right

Love me right

Love my voice

Listen, it does have something to say

It sings, It laughs loud, It whispers, It sweetly sasses, it delicately scolds

It firmly teaches, it mimics past monarchs, and it sounds like my mother and echoes of my grandmother

It floods with the wisdom of my grandfather

It blows the gentle love breezes of my father

Love me right

I am a dream, a hope, a vision, a blossomed flower, a planted seed for tomorrow,

I am your mother, I am your father, I am your brother, I am your sister, I am your son, I am your daughter, I am you.

I am the ancestors, I am the deities, I am the trees, I am water and air

I am life and death, I am spirit and breath

                                               Love me right