EMERALD, RUBY & GOLD (Poem)
EMERALD, RUBY, & GOLD
By Farah Lawal Harris, 2024
My parents are tried-and-true alchemists:
married 57 years and counting,
my Mama and Daddy
spun lead into gold
in their mid-life years.
No wonder
Mama’s birthstone is emerald,
her life an etched sentence in my mind
of all that is resilient, striking, and regal.
Mama continues to teach me what it means
to be a queen.
Meanwhile, Daddy gave me
his bright smile,
wisdom, and perfectionism.
In my mid-life years,
I am more honest with them.
I’ve called them crying,
sharing my tears and fears;
allowing their words and prayers
to soothe me.
No wonder
my birthstone is ruby!
Being a Cancerian with cancer
made me mushy and vulnerable,
rocked me back to the role of child.
I am forever their baby.
In my mid-life years,
I savor their stories from the past —
hit ‘Record’ when I can
or type notes furiously.
This is how I keep my parents alive
for eternity.
I venerate my parents
while they are still here on earth
to add ease to my ancestral practice
for future me.
Future generations will know their names,
and through their children,
their legacy.
In my mid-life years,
I embrace a life of ease.
My life of ease declares that
I am not obligated
to trouble my mind to recall every
watered-down memory.
So I write down the stories.
Six months of chemotherapy
erased about 6% of my memory.
Good thing I consistently record my history
through poetry.
My life of ease declares that
I carry on the alchemy.
