Samskara

Samskara 

by Sara Gallagher

My roots are stained

by wars I have never raged

by thousands of

moonless nights and

silenced screams.

By floods and famines

by dreams washed away by the tides

and novels written but never opened again.

A message and meaning

for me to unravel

Passed along

foraged through time

Deep engrained pain

my ancestors

each marked

like rings

on an old

aged

tree.

Like the wind that carries the lightness of the seed

My white flag flies.

I loosen my grip on the dagger

I have been digging

into my own

precious

heart.

White flags soar

Like a bird alone and far from home

I release each one of my fingers gripping

like ivy

coiled around my own

tender

throat.

White flags fly,

the flag of awareness

its magnitude of light

circles around my inherited war.

I declare peace with my God

I declare peace with my being

my body

my love

my freedom

my ecstasy.

Stained, Baptized,

Transformed

by tears.

Deep in my belly

I illuminate

as the witness to this life.

A mountain to climb

only for

the willing.