Blond Bedouin

        Blond Bedouin child-
        is it the dust of ancient rock
        or a distant ancestor
        from the crumbling
        crusader castle...
        What has given you,
        sweet child wide eyed
        watching us
        zoom past,
        what has given you
        that halo?
        Wheat- gold
        like bread
        that's not been baked,
        still on the shaft
        growing
        like you...
        Will you be blond woman
        head covered to hide
        from strong sun,
        and strangers' eyes
        will never know
        of the angel's halo
        still round your head
        that's grown into a river
        of wheat falling
        down a brown back.
        Sweet child wide eyed
        sturdy like the soil,
        you stand
        like rock itself-
        your skin
        brown and dust,
        but all I see
        is halo
        wheat gold
        shimmer song.

 poem copyright ©2000 Anne Selden Annab