After Crystal Williams’ “The Voice of God,”
For Aretha Franklin
her voice was the soundtrack
to after-school pick-me-ups
from the trauma
of every reluctant schoolyard memento
uplifting auras that filled the room
accompanying my mother’s cooking
as she shuffled from the kitchen
to the dining room, switching up her vinyl
from Earth, Wind, & Fire
to the Sugar Hill Gang,
to Fiddler on the Roof,
but none shined a beacon
quite like yours
I didn’t need a synagogue
because my holy place
was constructed through
the echoes of your voice
singing the songs
to wipe away adolescent tears
doing the job a box of Kleenex
and attempts at self-love couldn’t
…so here you go, into a light,
one I hope is there to behold
a paradise in waiting,
void of despair
I’ve never been
a religious man,
but I would say
a thousand little
prayers for you
so any god looking down,
knows you are worthy
of an Eden in the clouds
for if there is a heaven,
it didn’t receive an angel
it has found a goddess
“Aretha Franklin”by Mel_DJ is licensed under CC PDM 1.0
