I first wrote this poem on December 24th, 2004, as a response to childhood experiences when I remembered how I fled to the natural safety of the fields and flowers after I was cruelly beaten for minor disobediences. Initially I used the word ‘GOD’ as the key word in the poem ( I met God in Dewdrop), as my abuse was heavily tied to religious indoctrination. I then transformed it to ‘LOVE’ as the theme word, which seemed closer to my truth, as I deeply experience love in connection to the natural world. It was not until after the 2022 ACA World Convention where I participated in the talent show and read my poem with the ‘LOVE' theme, that I rewrote this following version of the poem with the central word as ‘GRIEF’, having come to integrate that the dewdrop was a projection of tears I then could not cry.
I met Grief in a dewdrop
In friendly fields near home
The safest place I knew to go
Broken and alone
Yes, I was just a little girl
Thick belt thrashed my skin
My tender tears froze underneath
Daddy’s rage had seeped within
I met Grief in a dewdrop
Cleansing tears I could not cry
Beauty quivered upon a flower
My natural beauty, I believed had died
I lowered down on bended knee
Upon the moistened grass
My tiny hands pressed on the ground
To greet the beaded glass.
It danced such rainbow colors
Which swirled upon the sphere
It said, “I’ll hold this grief for you”
As you gently embrace your tears!
This little girl, now sixty-four
Still … dewdrops glisten near
But now they fill her heart with JOY
and recovered creativity to share!
SkyHeart