Who Am I? Poem by Kathleen Reiman

Such a simple question yet so complex
How can I tell you who I am?

I am not my race, my color, my sex or my religion,
But I am a blue eyed, Christian American woman.

I am that little girl who cried for her daddy,
But I am the woman who stands for her children.

I am the teen that struggled to make it through school,
But I am the woman who aced a Master's.

I am the young woman far from home,
And the woman all alone at home.

I am the woman who has seen life fail
And the woman who has held new life.

What makes me who I am is not who I am
Yet reflects all I am.

I am

A glint of sunlight on a darkened day
The whisper of water slipping softly over rocks,
And wending through vivid emerald water weed.
The opening of a spring bud in the frosty morning air.
The bead of sweat that rolls down a rock before a thunderstorm
Like the tear that falls from my heart-wall.
I am a page from the Book of Life written by the Master,
Torn and tattered, soaked with tears, yet redeemed by the Blood.
A bold stroke of paint left by the Painter of Life in an eternal abstract,
Ever searching, never knowing, always reaching, never complete.

In honor of Maya Angelou, who has given all women the gift of a strong voice.

May 28,2014