What is this She Brings?
For Dr. Lillian K Beam
When someone brings life
Like a nutrient,
Like the spray from a clear waterfall,
Like the new song from the finch flying overhead
who'll perch just to sing you a few bars.
When someone brings life
You remember that colors under sunlight aren't simply red or gold.
Beads & berries & blooms shout "I am crimson," or whisper "I am buttercup."
And you become a gifted analogue among them, glowing too.
It's not merely that you're startled by the amber bark of the Eucalyptus
or the lilting dance of the saffron butterfly.
There are many spectacles reported nightly that presume importance,
whether you see the news or not.
And the hungers of our world are famous
though bright glitz a'clatter, new buzz and brilliance from flooding fortunes
just don't solve them;
Can scarcely redress looming misdeeds,
bestow safe streets, repair the people's needs,
or comfort all the children.
It takes someone to bring life…
Maybe in a slide show & stories of travel to a world in Africa,
A village with tall & graceful ancestors who belong to us all.
It take someone who will bring life
In the music of laughter she is willing to share
Mingled with encouragement, Molded by her faith in possibilities
And chiseled with her strength.
Never mind that you walk away now realizing your own greatness
In an often small record of your day.
What is this if not life?
By Robyn Iset Anuakan
February 16, 2006
