Najwa's Song

I am in a holy place
I am still with solitude
I hold the bowl empty of stars and justice.

Beyond the wall I hear soldiers
zealous with gunfire
shots repeat history.

My mother said justice
is a fruit left on a tree.
No one has a taste for it.
My mother is the blue of wisdom.
My grandmother is the kiss of tatoo'd lips.

I remain in a holy place.
I hold the bowl empty of stars
and justice
and I wait.

^

Biography

Anne Powell (Born 1948, Taranaki, New Zealand) is a Cenacle Sister. Her latest book of poetry Enough clear water was published in 2001. Her first collection, Firesong, was published in 1999. Both books are Steele Roberts Publications. Her work also appears in two anthologies for secondary school students Jewels in the Water, and Doors, published by University of Waikato , 2000; and in the anthologies Snapshots- poems of grief and remembrance, and Spirit in a strange land- a selection of NZ spiritual verse. Her poems are also published in Tui Motu.