Braiding Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

I watch thick twisted vines embrace
A mighty banyan tree
They bring to mind when I wore braids
In plaited shafts of three

The day came when I cut them off
And hid them in a chest
Then life began to shear my head
When I leaned on your breast

Nobody warned me braids of youth
Would not grow back with time
Nor would my hands return again
To climbing twisted vines

Your arms were sinewy like cords
Around my sapling shoots
They wrapped me in a deathlike grip
Ripped up my very roots

You told me "Grow up" once or twice
Because you were a man
Yet I still dreamed of golden braids
Pain had not been my plan

Today I look at those tough vines
Embracing a tall tree
Remembering how you soon left
In search of what must be

I never found another's hold
Like yours nor could there be
Oh how I mourn my greatest loss
The wish to grow with thee

I watch thick twisted vines embrace
A mighty banyan tree
They bring to mind when I wore braids
In plaited shafts of three.