A weed is just a flower growing in the wrong garden..

-Stephanie Markman

I stand in a land of roses,
But I dream of a land of snow,
Where you and I were happy
In the years of long ago.
Nightingales in the branches,
Stars in the magic skies,
But I only hear you singing,
I only see your eyes.

I stand once again in the North land,
But in silence and in shame;
Your grave is my only landmark,
And men have forgotten my name.
'Tis a tale that is truer and older
Than any the sagas tell,
I loved you in life too little,
I love you in death too well!
***

We love with great difficulty
spinning in one place
afraid to create
spaces
new rhythm...
go quickly, Tsukiko,
into your circled dance
go quickly
before your steps are
halted by who you ae not
go quickly
to who you are...

-Janice Mirikitani
***

She would live only to endure, to be patient, to work, to suffer; and at last, when she had gone through all these things, to die without ever having lived and without knowing that she had never lived. Judith had seen grow up in the families dozens of such little girls.....to pass...quickly from that into...the....burdens of too frequent maternity.
-Edith Kelley
***

and if my eyes conceal
a squadron of conflicting rebellions
I learned from you
to define myself
through your denials

how often
have we built each other
as shelters
against the cold.
-Audrey Lorde
***