St Brigid's Lullaby

By Binta Yade

take me for what I am 

and for all that I can enjoy 

because I have been cradled in the palms of the best of man 

I have been nurtured by the ripest soil

bred of delusion and toil 

I have been birthed and reborn and born again 

I am what I am for I have been everything I’ve been 

so take me as I am 

and for all that I am not 

my cradle is now my carapace 

and I stand upright 

speak to me on even grounds

and when I stand no longer 

lay me to rest, under a birch, 

so that I may 

be cradled once again 

for a lifetime, for an eternity. 

By Binta Yade