luam/asa-luam

there was a water song that we sang

when we were going to fetch river from the river,

it was filled with water sounds

& pebbles. here, in the after-wind, with the other girls,

we trade words like special things.

one girl tells me “mai” was her sister’s name,

the word for “flower.” she has been saving

this one for a special trade. I understand

& am quiet awhile, respecting, then give

her my word “mai,” for “water,”

& another girl tells me “mai” is “mother”

in her language, & another says it meant,

to her, “what belongs to me,” then

“belonging,” suddenly, is a strange word,

or a way of  feeling, like “to be longing for,”

& you, brother, are the only one,

the only one I think of  to finish that thought,

                to be longing for