I am denied
those
vivid colors—
the burnt-orange,
the reds and the yellows
framing her face,
skirting
her softness.  A sheet
of murky darkness
nailed,  corrosive
barbed-wire planted,
between us:
is it the texture
that

separates me
from my

sister in Azania?
I feel her eyes, searching—
her
brilliant world
dimmed by a shabby
over-wash.  Intensity
of the human
spirit
does not fade in the
slums of life.  Shadows
conceal,
and fences only
bar.  The African woman

and I, one prism
toward the light—
nothing halts
the undiluted spectrum.

*********
Inspired by a copy of a painting 
by Sue Williamson,  
Cape Town, South Africa.  
First published GFWoman