Prelude: The day of our meeting with FAMDEGUA, I took a moment to sit and reflect on the plants growing from the seminary’s ceilings. I wanted to write something that related to the Maya’s suffering and great loss. The plants became a metaphor for this understanding, alongside my own theology of what it means to be part of an eternal story. This is by no means my greatest stroke of brilliance as a poet, but I liked some of the imagery included and especially how the story of these flowers also related to the story of the Maya. Without further ado, A Canopy of Hope.  – Kris Anne

~*~

there is a canopy of hope

from which we all descend

reaching,

reaching for the earth

dying as we descend

yet we shall continue

to blossom

as once our mothers did

impregnating the jounery

of hope as we descend

remember,

remember all the painful loss

the heavens bore our name

we shall not forget you

for you,

because of you

we still remain

onward we shall forward

the canopy of heaven

to remind

the hope of our tomorrow

shall mean you never die

for memory shall keep you

Alive

though the graves hang heavy

our lives shall overcome

tomorrow in our children born

your memory as one.

-Kris Anne