Sunday, November 26, 2000

BIG SISTER

She smiles at me from the magazine page:
    matted hair,
    ragged clothes,
    perhaps 7 or 8 years old,
    balancing a baby on her hip,
    third-world child who is childcare provider,
    too young not to have hope.

I think of another Big Sister:
    who crouches on the riverbank,
    carefully guarding the bulrush basket
    with its forbidden cargo.
    A royal party approaches,
    the princess and her maids come for a bath;
    chattering and splashing they enter the water,
    enjoy the cooling wetness on their skin.
    "Bring it to me," commands the princess.
    "It is a Hebrew child," they say.
     Miriam, thinking quickly,
    steps out from the tall grass.
    "Would you like me to find a nurse?" she offers.
    The princess looks into her fear-filled eyes,
    hands the baby to her and says,
    "take him. Care for him. I will pay you."
Miriam hugs Moses tightly all the way home.

    Later people would remember Miriam,
         the prophetess who led the liberation celebration,
         Miriam, the sister of the liberator,
         Miriam, the protector of the liberator,
         Miriam, the agent of God.

Sweet child of the third-world:
    protect your precious bundle.
     Keep life, keep hope alive.
    May you, modern-day Miriam,
    See your liberation in your lifetime.

Sandra Foley Gaylord
May 10, 1990

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