The Lord’s Corner

Tyree Daye

I would drop to my knees for the littlest things
mind filled with a light returning
from aluminum-foil crosses hanging on a porch

I was made to believe so hard
that I was going to die
My family said I wore bells on my ankles
I learned an ancient dance

Then the light like the deer
leaped off     into time

& once   because my cousins called my body a soft thing
because so desperately they said they wanted to kill
the woman I hid inside me
dared as they often did with their hands
to let my eyes wonder
where the thickest shine sat

we heard the last child had their mind stolen
the circles of their iris turned to coal
when they looked directly at the Lord’s house

I’m trying to find where I feel most at home
I believe it’s inside me