Three Sisters
We always used to quarrel
my sisters
until our mother
asked the Creator
to make us quit it.
So the Creator
turned us into
three distinct plants
and told us
if we wanted to grow
if we wanted to thrive
we would need
each other
to depend on.
So each of our seeds
were sown
in the same little
hollowed out soil.
We grew and climbed
together
my sisters
and we each had something
to offer the other.
My corn stalk
grants a frame
a map for her growth.
For where I grow
she follows
my bean sister
climbing up
she is bolstered
with my stem
and she too
can profit from the sun.
I am strong as she is young
and she flowers on and cools
my long bare back.
My squash vines render
a cool comfort
for my bean and corn sister's.
I shelter and keep moist
the ground
from where they rose.
I support them
down here below
keeping their roots
their beginnings secure.
I allow them to keep high
their shadowed distance
for my work
is still seen by the sun.
My bean roots
give nourishment
for my sisters to thrive
and as I hang on
to my big corn sister
I cover and protect
her bareness
with my winding truss
as she continues her rise
and her direction
I hinge upon.
And as we grow unitedly
companions
of the sun, wind and rain;
relations such as these
while not the most reliable
we have survived
with our lives entwined
in a balance
of service to each other
and then others.
LauraLee K. Harris
|
