Leper Colony

With broken bent fingers and holes of hands
We gathered the colours of the rainbow
In open palms
Scattered it over fruits, vegetables, flowers
Watched them sprout and bloom
There was this hunger we had to break
There was this thirst we had to slake

We harnessed the wind
Broke the yoke of rivers in spate
Subdued torrents, dammed their fury
We were creators of many lakes
On clear nights we kissed the stars
And they twinkled bright for us
We let the moon free from the earth
We could even douse the sun but we did not
We tilled this land, once barren once bereft
And from towering rocks on dead plateaus
We curdled water and quenched our thirst
From our threads, we saw kingdoms rise
Gods who forsook us, came beseeching now
We weaved baskets which held life
We raised our young and we gave them love
We did all this and more

The road was long and it took a while
Often we slipped but then we stood
And then we walked on a thousand legs
We knew
We knew that with every step we took
We knew that with the first step we took
We lepers of the leper colony became whole again
This mutilated journey done, we each became all again