XX Lyrics

There will be no hopelessness

There will be no bankruptcy of love

There will be no erasing of our labour in the middle of our song

This poem is having none of that

In this poem we are still becoming

Some days we are wee little things, our mouths too tiny to suck the juice out of the orange

And some days we're grown ass women who suck the fruit until we have bled it dry

Our hunger is so ripe no one can bear to look us in the eye

There is nothing linear about our becoming

Some days we're a roaring lion and some days we're the animal the lion's roar scares away

We're full of faith to know that His mercies are new every morning

But we're a lot broken to also fell like so is our pain

Sometimes we catch ourselves dangling on the leash of all our wants

Our longing stains our breath until everyone can smell it

Every tear is a clarion call to be considered, to be looked at, to be held space for

We yearn to explain our pain so that it might not get muffled under the weight of logic

Some days we're so full of ache our words are endless

Some days we're so full of ache words dry up in our mouth

And it feels as though everything is conspiring to steal our joy

But this poem is having none of that

When we manage to sit in the stillness of our thoughts

We hear God loud and clear say to us: open your mouth I will fill it with laughter

We are not there yet but by God will we get there

And while we wait

And while we strive

And while we tire and fuel our patience

And we will get there and by God will we shout