October, 2024

Emily Semaya

your touch, just a tap

on the leg or the shoulder or the back

of my neck 

& sight, those sky eyes of yours

they look away now

they once looked inside of me

they once ignited a miracle

flame i thought was eternal

the sea is polluted with bloodoil

& a wandering gaze 

lapis eyes— friendship stone, sunken bedrock, the bags 

of torment that rest on your crumbling, saltstone face

you did not turn around to see me

one last time

touch, just a tap,— lambsblood on my doorframe,

but i am the eldest daughter

of the youngest daughter of the youngest daughter

& so i am the first slain

you, the youngest daughter of the eldest, you did not need

my protection– touch & fingertwists & touch touch touch— 

a promise you always intended to break

& once again i am Solomon 

& you chose to steal the baby

it is easier, after all, to touch

what is built to be touched,

to caress the mezuzah bestowed

by your true loves— Abraham, Isaac, Jacob

there are more mothers but my cries, praises, pleas

for them as we wash

our own clothes in the river together

go unheard— 

Ahav shelah– elohei Sarah, Elohei Rivkah,

Elohei Rachel, v’Elohei Leah

v’ at.