Your love turned my body
into water.
My eye-paint dripped into the eyes
of foamy water.
Morning wind in the garden
open blossoms.
The key to my locked spirit
is your laughing mouth.
– Empress Nur Jahana (1577-1645 C.E.)
All she wanted was to find a place to stretch her bones.
A place to lengthen her smiles
and spread her hair
a place where her legs could walk without cutting and bruising
a place unchained.
She was born out of ocean breath.
I reminded her; ‘Stop pouring so much of yourself into hearts that have no room for themselves
do not thin yourself, be vast.
You do not bring the ocean to a river.’
– Tapiwa Mugabe, You are Oceanic
Truth.
– Mushpa