Somewhere in Africa

Somewhere in Africa

(The Mitochondrial Eve)

I.

From somewhere in East Africa

Came one woman

First.

From her ancient flesh

& spirit she

Created

Not accidental mutants,

Not offspring of some now

Extinct monkey.

One mother

Who held in her womb

All glorious genetic oceans

Of human earth

All lines converge within her:

The diversity of nations, lineage

Of kings, the destiny

Of time.

II.

From this one mother

Flows all human

History:

The vague nagging memory

Of a beauteous garden

Where she once

Walked

& spoke as a friend.

Her own children

Intended to heal all time,

To flourish in hard, sweat

Labored lands,

Become stained by blood

Of son upon son, sacrificed too

Soon, as a Lamb out

Of season.

Her heart’s travail, a sharp sword,

Both curse & mercy, a bitter

Illness & a cure

Divine.

Despite a serpent’s arrogance

& the naked pride

Of propagated

Blame,

Guided always

By the outpouring memory,

The conscious

Care

Guiding cosmos,

Merciful, forever moving

Towards life returned,

Completed.

III.

Original strands of mitochondrial DNA

Pass unbroken in providential

Planned order,

Sent as secret genetic coding

Through red-soil sons

Of Noah’s

Sons:

Kingdom makers,

Race shapers, most ancient

Line of ruler-priests,

Fathers

Of each hued people;

Made of one forgotten kin

From one maternal

Blood.

From before time, an unforgotten mother,

Saved in time by her own Creator;

Firstborn; Pre-existent; both

Made & Unmade;

Fully Human;

Divine;

Her own distant son, the Lamb

Come at last, born, scorned

& Crucified, risen again

To take her very

Hand.

In full Love,

He finally knits her fall

Tying her back to the strong

Threads of heaven.

Placing

Her deepest longings,

Returning them safe again

To the Holy garden

Scheme

Where she now lives:

            Ancient

                        Honored

                                    Fallen

                                                & Redeemed.

Matushka Elizabeth Perdomo

Other poems by Matushka Elizabeth Perdomo

Anthropologic Study of True Myths

Poem for Georgia O'Keeffe

Tewa Feast Day

Hill Country Highway