a vow

Several years ago, I was working on a spoken word project with high school freshman. The students were asked to find, learn then recite a poem that resonated with them as one of the exercises to prepare them for writing and speaking their own creations. I sat at a desk experiencing some old pangs remembering my freshman days. My family moved in the middle of the school year which at first was not an easy adjustment. However, looking back, I realized it was nothing compared to what students have to deal with today. I wondered if the sensitive girl I was would be able to navigate the adolescent world that is high school now, if there is room for girls like me who feel so deeply with their hearts. And then I heard a young girl speak the following words written by poet Mari Evans…

Celebration

I will bring you a whole person

and you will bring me a whole person

and we will have us twice as much
of love and everything

I be bringing a whole heart
and while it do have nicks and
dents and scars,
that only make me lay it down
more careful-like

An’ you be bringing a whole heart
a little chipped and rusty an'
sometime skip a beat but

still an' all you bringing polish too

and look like you intend
to make it shine

And we be bringing, each of us
the music of ourselves to wrap
the other in

Forgiving clarities
Soft as a choir's last
lingering note our
personal blend

I will be bringing you someone whole

and you will be bringing me someone whole

and we be twice as strong

and we be twice as true

and we will have twice as much

of love

and everything

The hair on the back of my neck rose to attention. I had never heard this poem before and was so moved, not only by the words but with the delivery from a student that up to that moment hadn’t said very much. She stood strong and sure, spoke with such eloquence, an old soul who understood the meaning of each line. It spoke to me too, immediately became one of my favorites and though written in 1993, has an old spirit. I don’t know why but it feels like it was recited back when my ancestors were on the plantation, an exchange of vows taken before jumping the broom hoping to be together forever knowing that that might not be possible. It feels sepia toned, romantic, gentle yet strong and sure, like the freshman girl standing in front of me that day, like the woman who I am and have been.

Celebration never fails to stir my soul. I keep it in my phone, wrote it in my journal, and it will forever remain in my whole heart.

keep your peepers open!®