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naomi shihab nye - negotion with a volcano lyrics

we will call you “agua” like the rivers and cool jugs
we will persuade the clouds to nestle around your neck
so you may sleep late
we would be happy if you slept forever
we will tend the slopes we plant, singing the songs
our grandfathers taught us before we inherited their fear
we will try not to argue among ourselves
when the widow demands extra flour, we will provide it
remembering the smell of incense on the day of our lord

please think of us as we are, tiny, with skins that burn easily
please notice how we have watered the shrubs around our houses
and transplanted the peppers into neat tin cans
forgive any anger we feel toward the earth
when the rains do not come, or they come too much
and swallow our corn
it is not easy to be this small and live in your shadow

often while we are eating our evening meal
you cross our rooms like a thief
touching first the radio and then the loom
later our dreams begin catching fire around the edges
they burn like paper, we wake with our hands full of ash

how can we live like this?
we need to wake and find our shelves intact
our children slumbering in their quilts
we need dreams the shape of lakes
with mornings in them thick as fish
shade us while we cast and hook—
but nothing else, nothing else

- naomi shihab nye lyrics

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