my friend is getting married and it was only last evening that i finally felt happy for her. it was no longer about drawing closer toward the alluring light of patriarchy, only to be snapped away into oblivion.

my friend is glowing in the realization of basking with her beloved. and she purrs contentedly with the possibilities of being part of a processes and peoples rather than her family and friends ..something bigger than herself. embracing another skin. more multi-layered & colourful. to be part - an active participant of the chain of life.

where her body shall not only be a vessel of spirits that the world so greatly deserves. it is a body that holds, protects, nutures her beloved before facing the mhondoro (lions) outside the karal/boma/homestead/house on the praire/townhouse in the concrete jungle.

i have been honoured to be a witness of my friend's evolution. we are cut from the same cloth, my friend and i. we question, analyze, draw into wells of introspection, silent, questioning, african women who are propelled with the heart and the spirit is the anchor.

i thought i was going to lose my friend.
now i am certain. it will never happen.
she is a consort of the spirit.