What We Will Tell Them

What we will tell them

We will tell them we forgot

How important we all were,

And re-membered our lost dignity—

The regality of simplicity and the grandeur of contentment;

We became Queens and Kings of our own neglected homes.

We became gardeners, sowing seeds of remorse for yesterday’s waste

And bulbs of promise for tomorrow’s children. 

We found delight in dirt and magic in mud pies.

We whistled with the wren and swayed with sequoias, casting our roots deep, deep

Until we learned to trust the miracle of each new day.

In the end, we silenced the violent voices of hatred and fear

And listened instead to our own hearts beating in time

To the rhythm of the song that makes the earth turn round—

A song not lost, but forgotten.

And the song was pure, and it was true, and we were a family, and it was enough.