You are a child of the Mississippi

You, river girl, with streaks of pale silt in your hair

You, river girl, who would not have me here

For the Yellow earth I bring clouds your seas

Why do you cast me from your home?

Why do you cast me from your heart?

Are we not born of the same deep blue

We flow from and return to at our ends

You and I, we are sisters after all

Threads etched into this blue orb by the same hands

I of yellow sand, you of white silt

You of blue satin, I of golden silk

You tell me I am murky with mud

Perhaps you feel that your waters are purer

Sweeter, for you have not the clouds that swirl inside me

But do you not understand

I may be yellowed, but I am richer for it

Richer, for the life that I carry with the earth

Richer, with this life that I could carry to you

If only you would let me in.