They say Great Grandmas eyes
were as gray as winter skies
and her heart
colder than a week’s worth of snow
truth be told
She wasn’t so frozen
No
she just had a lot of responsibility
and couldn’t speak of love so easily
as we can in these times
a woman speaking of love so freely back then
was viewed as weakness
and you couldn’t let yourself be weak
and raise nine children
and rather you were
Grandma Mary
Grandma Cleo
or Grandma Ora
each had their Children in nines
three generations of
nation builders
fruit yielders
goddesses
from that sacred bloodline
Each life baring
Spirit Daughters of Oya and Oshun
their very presence

the embodiment of Wisdom
And each of them lived by
the following rules
with and without the imperfections
old rules passed down by elders
in oral tradition
they’d say
“See when you’ve got this many mouths to feed
and all these Souls to lead
you can’t be found too gentle
your nerves better be steel
’cause you can’t afford no breakdowns
and there ain’t no time for madness
leave the whining and the  laughter for the children
and don’t indulge in sadness
never ever be found crying
even if other women do
but if it must be so
do it under your pillow
late night or wee hours of the morning
long after you put them babies to bed
and of course
you’ll love them
more than anyone could ever love them
but those three words
better not be said too often
and for their guidance
you keep a switch near your hand

and all your wits about you
so you don’t raise them spoiled
with a sense of entitlement
but praise them openly
when proud of their accomplishments
instill in them courage not fear
they must be strong
they must be self-sufficient
they must be better
better than we were”
Yes…
They say Great Grandmas eyes were gray as winter
and her heart colder than a week’s worth of snow
I say truth is
            there was so much more to Grandma
then they could ever know
I say Grandmas heart was fire
and the gray of her eyes smoke
burn so hot
it melt away all the troubles of her children
burn so hot
it kept steam boiling for a train
rolling fast
pushing through
in the direction of her ancestors dreams
Yeah I say…
fire burning in her heart
steel molding fire

steam rolling fire
heart full of fire
gray eyes of smoke
formed in a woman
who could never
ever
be broken
steam rolling fire
heart full of fire
gray eyes full of smoke
formed in a woman
who could never
ever
be broken