Reclamation

"Remember who you are." - Mufasa

I sat on the couch next to my little grandson as he watched The Lion King for the umpteenth time. I was focused on writing in my journal, probably complaining about work, maybe doing math to see if I could pay all my bills. Then Mufasa bellowed from the heavens. This poem tumbled out.

Reclamation

“Remember who you are.” - Mufasa

under the deep barely awakened 
dark mist far far back
remember you are
you are

a long fat cord reaches back
into darkness
hand over hand you pull toward you
each hand an act of remembering
in the flesh muscle sinew bone
in nerve endings
the hands flex strong and certain
the fingertips remember

or swimming up straight up through 
black muck
blindly –
no, a shimmer of light reflects 
on the surface
refracted, rippling out across  
the moonlight water
but you haven’t reached it yet
you’re still swimming up
remembering

forgetting the past of a beaten child
forgetting the hands on you
the steel-edged words on you
forgetting drowning in fear

you’re swimming 
remembering who you are becoming
remembering who you are