in search of color everywhere: a collection of african-american poetry

inquisition by gloria wade-gayles
(this poem was read to me by my af-am professor during seminar)

do you love her?
yes.
do you begin your prayers with her name?
yes.
have you trained the nightingales to sing her favorite song, continuously?
yes.
have you carved her face on gibraltar?
yes.
have you built a boardwalk over the oceans and the seas so that she can walk on water?
yes.
have you traveled through the desert in search of a velvet cactus just for her?
yes.
have you substituted your dreams for her nightmares?
yes.
do you speak her name in a gentle whisper and only with her permission?
yes.

do you stroke her back
massage her feet
fluff her pillows
draw her bath
cook her meals
brush her hair
dress her in

silks and satins
sables and minks
pearls diamonds
rubies ermines
and glass slippers
that cannot break?

yes.

do you love her?

yes!
yes!
yes!

is she white?

SILENCE.