I Am One of Yours

You people of the earth, you crowding, thronging mass of life,

For the most part I love you, I see you, I know you, I am you,

I am from the earth and the sea, I am from the sand and the mountains,

I have walked along the stony sea paths, the waves crashing and roaring below,

I have wandered the silent halls of your forests with axe and saw upon my shoulders,

I have pitch on my palms and dirt beneath my nails, I am crusted with salt and flour,

I have slept dark nights with you listening to the moan of the wind through the thin walls,

My hands are hard and calloused from swinging the hammer, shucking the oyster,

Tinning the roof, stoking the fire, hauling the line, pulling the weight,

I have sweat with you, bled with you, laughed and drank and danced with you,

I was with you when you stumbled home in the darkness and in the starlight,

I fought with you, struck you, clasped you in my embrace, we are friends,

Brothers, siblings, I am one of yours, your family, your blood, your lover,

I struck my heels into the mud with you, shaped and plumbed the beams,

I have fed and clothed you, sung with you, burned my fingers and lips,

On dripping joints of meat charred in the fire, you and I shared a bottle,

A blanket, a joke, an embrace. I walked and ran with you,

Bowed and worshipped in your mosque, your temple, your cathedral,

I too stood in wonder in your holy places, I too have marveled at the stars,

I helped you birth the calves, harvest the corn, dress and skin the deer,

We were sheened in sweat and covered with chaff in the rafters of the loft,

We plunged into the mud brown water to cool our hot, sunburnt flesh,

We made love in the grass with the smell of fish, and mud and salt like a perfume,

You heated my blood to boiling and I touched you with my fire,

We made life together, I pulled the squalling babe from your swollen womb,

I ran with you after the prey, took up arms with you in your cause,

Pounded the spikes and laid the track, bent and picked the ripe fruit under the sun,

I pulled the knots and hoisted the sails, I cut my hands to the bone,

I hauled the nets and cleaned the fish, I have salt and scales in my beard,

I have baked the bread and crushed the grapes, we drank from the same cup,

I kept watch by your side, watched over the flock and the night fires,

I have told stories and spun many tales, I have heard the wolves howl,

And the lions roar, I have seen both the buzzards and the ravens circling,

I have loved you, I have hated you, I have fought and died with you,

Held you in the night, wept by your grave, carried your casket,

I have seen the best and the worst of you, I have known you, I am you,

I have longed with you, dreamed with you, we are the same, we are friends,

Brothers, siblings, I am one of yours, your family, your blood, your lover.

Eric M. Petit