Lashes

Rivers welted into the Earth
pouring sorrows over rounded stones
recalling that money doesn't wash in
with the tide, emboldened by the moon

Wax on and then wash it off
feeling the sting of honeybees
and the lashes of angry slavers
trying to break our backs

But whips don't shake the faith
of the mute, the deaf, and the dumb
cuts left in the flesh worn as wounds
that scab and heal into deeper crevices

Canyons flogged into the Earth
ancient lands once inhabited
by natives and nativity packaged
into stories found on splintered land