If you want me,
wait.
My soul is speaking
like an old grandmother,
taking her time,
rolling pearls of wisdom
around in her mouth,
then slowly releasing them
off the tip of her tongue.
Her voice rasps and gravels
run ragged with time,
lean in to listen
or her message
sweeps past your ears
like the wind.
She refuses to shout
above the chatter-madness
these days.
Instead, she waits
in the old hut of my heart,
poking the fire
with the patience of rain
eroding the huge rock of my nonsense
with persistence.
The soul,
old grandmother,
can’t be interrupted,
not for presidents,
promotions,
promises,
or pride.
The dew bead of knowledge
hanging from her lips,
was formed over the last eon, or more.
She has called me to listen
at this pivotal moment
to catch this concept
the moment it drops.
If you want me,
wait.
My soul is speaking,
and if I turn away for an instant,
I’ll miss it.
“Old Grandmother Soul” by Rivera Sun is the first of ten poems she wrote for the days between winter solstice and new year’s day.
Author/Activist Rivera Sun, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection, Billionaire Buddha and Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, the cohost of Occupy Radio and Love (and Revolution) Radio, and the cofounder of the Love-In-Action Network. She is a trainer and social media coordinator for Campaign Nonviolence and Pace e Bene. Sun attended the James Lawson Institute on Strategic Nonviolent Resistance in 2014 and her essays on social justice movements appear in Truthout and Popular Resistance. www.riverasun.com