Arms of earth reach for grace - written in 10 minutes

Karima Diane Alavi wrote this extraordinary piece in just 10 minutes, when we used a photo of a monumental statue in Tahoua, Niger, as the prompt in our Saturday Prompt of the Week Salon. It’s a perfect example of letting your imagination feel its way into a piece of writing. It brought tears to my eyes when Karima read it to the group that day, and it brings tears to my eyes again now.

Arms of earth reach for grace, rising before a stone monument to the White Man’s Burden.

Voices of children call out from their graves.

Mama, I’m thirsty.

Baba, my stomach feels dead though it seems happy. Look! It’s bulging with food I never ate.

Young mothers hold little ones in their arms.

Nothing to offer except desert and sky.

Can I pour you a bowl of air?

Is it cruel to trick you into thinking that I fed you just moments before you died?

Is it evil of me to hope that your final memory is of me pouring my devotion into you, my hope drained, my love the only sustenance I have to offer to your sad hollow eyes?