Ground

I have reclaimed you
Countless times
I have.
From the greedy ground who'd have you
Stiff in her belly

I have reclaimed you
Thankless times
I fought
Long before your feet
Stepped steady on the bare ground

She sought to own your blood
But I stopped that
With my fantastic indigo pashmina from the dye pits of Lahore
And the gold embroidered one from Pakistan
These, my offerings to the earth goddess
To leave you be.

Alas she wouldn't
She cursed me instead
With a gourd growing from my belly
A new life
So my feet no longer feels her
But she would have you still

Though I send you to bed with my heartbeat echoing the
drumbeat of your forefathers
before you,
It is not enough
Now you must fight