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Thousands of Feet Below You
Alice Walker's latest book of poetry, ABSOLUTE TRUST IN THE GOODNESS OF THE EARTH, is inspired by the forces of nature and strength of the human spirit. The poems that follow explore the subjects of war, beauty and inspiration.
Thousands of Feet Below You
Thousands of feet
Below you
There is a small
Boy
Running from
Your bombs.
If he were
To show up
At your mother's
House
On a green
Sea island
Off the coast
Of Georgia
He'd be invited in
For dinner.
Now, driven,
You have shattered
His bones.
He lies steaming
In the desert
In fifty or sixty
Or maybe one hundred
Oily, slimy
Bits.
If you survive
& return
To your island
Home
& your mother's
Gracious
Table
Where the cup
Of lovingkindness
Overflows
The brim
(&
From which
No one
In memory
Was ever
Turned)
Gather yourself.
Set a place
For him.
-Alice Walker
Excerpted from ABSOLUTE TRUST IN THE GOODNESS OF THE EARTH by Alice Walker. Copyright (c) 2003 by Alice Walker. Published by arrangement with The Random House Ballantine Trade Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
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