For Zora

For Zora


Zora,
little black girl
from Eatonville,
Zora, Isie,
defiant and strong.
Bringer of life,
bringer of light.
Zora of the nylon
 pants and red lipstick,
obvious of your sexuality,
oblivious of your sensuality

Zora of Florida,
Zora of Harlem,
Zora of Haiti,
Zora of Jamaica.  
Zora, the Pathfinder.
Zora, the Pioneer.
 Zora, the Herald.
Zora, the Icon.

You lived like a whirlwind
and died like a whisper.
You whisper to me across
the rivers of the Nile and the Niger
and across the oceans of the
 Pacific and the Atlantic.
When you lived
you could never be ignored
When you died,
 you could never be forgotten.