Who the Annunaki Saw?

Who the Annunaki Saw?
©2013 by Alice Walker 

Tiny Mother,
I knew you had to exist
behind all the lies
about you.
I knew you would live
somewhere fresh
wild
with the sun dancing 
with your earth colored skin.
I knew you would adorn yourself
with whatever struck your fancy.
That it would feel natural
for you
to be part of the All.
Oh, small mother.
Today we miss you so very much!
Your ease among all expressions
of the real;
your delight in style
that is never lost
on the heart
that is free.
When the strange beings
from somewhere else
first approached you
did you try to show them
how easy
even splendid
it can be
to live on Earth?
And did they refuse
to hear you –
as they still refuse?
Are you who the Annunaki saw?
Did they have the sense
at least
to be charmed
as we are, 
all these eons later?
Or did they cause that look
in your eyes
that so pains
me today;
a distant daughter
held in troubled enchantment
by your amazing
face?
In my house you hang
in a place of honor
so that I see you
every day.
It is a face that has lasted.
But whose spirit  now, I see it in your look,
is deeply challenged.
Endangered.
Small Mother, sister, ancestor, aunt,
thank you for showing us
the face of a true
earth being; 
someone who knows
no separation
of beauty
and self.

From Chitauri Blues, a work in progress. Copyright 2013 by Alice Walker
The photograph of a woman among the Omo people is by German photographer Hans Silvester.  It was given to me by a beloved sister, in whose house hangs another beautifully adorned “Small Mother.”