Arrows of Love From the Kings of Kush
(Cantos de La Sirena Para Su Enamorado)


My body knows you
Habesha Man
Descendant of the ancient lands of Kush
We are Aztlán and Africa together
In our bodies
In our hearts and spirits
In our mirrored desire for each other
I reflect you deeply
In every succulent kiss of lips
And burst of heat
Y más
We are Delicia de Café con Chocolate
Smoky sweet almond roses
Tender and hot
Chile and Nectar
Rubbed into one.

My spirit knows you
Habesha Man
Your stunning dark arrow
Pierces me relentlessly
Seven times
In one morning
In perfect cadence
Like some ancient love song
Sung in Geez
Deep sacred verses
From the beginning of time
Longing and Sweet
Stirring
Los Dulces Jugos de La Vida
Within us.

At this age
Or any age
To make love
Till happily exhausted
Moaned to little deaths
Les petits mortes
Greatly exuding and deliciously alive
Not knowing
Who is who
Nor which is which
This Undeniable
Gift of Life
Exploded One
Into the Other
…Mercy.

So then receive it
This delectable gift
Yours from the universe
Which has always been yours
And you know this
Because his touch
Is as essential
as
Breathing
His hands and legs entwined with yours
Braided lovers bonds
And you know it now
That he is part of you
And you of him
Own that
In the deepest part of your soul
And know
It is
The truth.

You
And the Habesha Man from the Land of Kush
Are Lovers
In the throes of passion
And He
Has always wanted You
And
Wants you still.

Receive with deep happiness
This healing ebony gifted arrow
That brings you such abundant love
And opens you for the first time once again
Your deepest womanhood
To the mouth of the womb
Where the great rivers are born
To kiss it
With his smoky spear
Where pinkest inner life force wet
Throbs with delight
Where the memory of love
Still resides
Nestled
Beneath the surface of my subterranean waters
And you are singing into me
Deeply etching
My name
Your Song
My Lover
My Habesha Man
Tender penetrator
of my walls of resistance.

Your gentle face contorts
At the bursting of each dam
Each time
You come home to me
Only uttering the words
Aséy, Aséy
Aiii, Aiii
Deeply shivering and shuddering
Crashing
Into the waves of
My want of You
An obsidian mirror
Each of the Other
In Lak’Ech.

The love bite on my bed
Is the size
And the shape of
The continent of Mama Africa
Of Tata Indio de Las Américas
The edges of a sacred map
Born of the give and take
Of our unending love dance
Trance of never ending
Irrevocable ocean currents
That circle from your shores to mine

And back again
From time immemorial.

All my protesting
And all my railing against
This most intimate of all connections
All my resistance to believing
That this place even exists
Where lovers are naked
To each other
With their bodies
And their hearts
Where gentle spirits hover
Where lovers share their fears
And hopes and
Just lay sleepily
In the perfect profound oblivion
Of each other’s arms
Needing nothing more

All this protesting and railing          
About the roles
Of men and women
From this land and that
And of what is right and what is wrong
Is a feeble attempt to disguise the enormity
Of these unbridled passions and desires
Which you have aroused
In no uncertain terms
In both of us.

My Habesha Man
From the Land of the Kings of Kush
Who kisses my mouths
With your mouth and spear
And leaves me sweetly spent
In the twilight
Of a drowsy bliss,
My soul knows you
From the beginning of time
All this and more
Into infinity
Into the stars
Where our lineage resides
En la curva de tus labios
In the ancestral celestial tides
That rise and fall and rise again
In each other’s embrace
In each other’s dreams
In the nuances of The Beloved’s voice
En La Cara de la Luna Desbordante
Amor al Rojo Vivo
Besos Profundos
Estoy Fundida en Ti
Y Muy Bién Lo Sé
Aséy, Aséy, Aséy.

            —

15 de septiembre, 2003
Punta Banda, Baja California, México


Aztlán/Africa: Songs of Affinity
Arrows of Love From The Kings of Kush
(Cantos de La Sirena Para Su Enamorado)
 © María Elena Gaitán, 2003

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Glossary

Cantos de La Sirena Para Su Enamorado –
Songs of The Mermaid for Her Lover
Aztlán  - The mythical place of origin of the Aztec people before their departure to central México from the lands known today as the Southwestern United States. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the roots of the word Aztlán are: “aztatl” ("heron") and  “tlan”  ("place of") respectively. Aztlán is also an important cultural marker for contemporary Chicano arts and literature.
Delicia de Café con Chocolate – Coffee and Chocolate Delicacy
Y más – And more
Tata Indio de Las Américas –
Indian Father from The Americas
Les Petits Mortes – The Little Deaths (Fr.)
En la curva de tus labios  - In the curve of your lips
In Lak’Ech – “I am The Other You,”  greeting in a Mayan language
En La Cara de la Luna Desbordante – In The Face of The Overflowing Moon
Amor al Rojo Vivo –Fiery Red Love
Besos Profundos – Profoundly Deep Kisses
Estoy Fundida en Ti – I Am Merged Into You
Y Muy Bién Lo Sé – And I Know This Well
Aséy –  An Ethiopian _expression of happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment

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The views reflected in the above poem are solely of the author and are not necessarily shared by Meskot. You may contact Maria Elena Gaitán for comments at cholamundis@yahoo.com .