Carica papaya
No Need To Argue, French Vanilla ice cream and tear-dry eyes

I will taste as I hear, hear as I taste for the rest of my life

Walk Two Moons, pawpaw with lime, and for once, not me who cries
there was no screaming, no hit, no touch, no whip, no knife

the only cut – the first sung notes of Ode To My Family, vanilla dissolving salt

I will taste as I hear, hear as I taste for the rest of my life
I’ll never know if something happened, if someone was at fault

all I remember is that voice, that taste, that beat, and each dry blink

the only cut – the first sung notes of Ode To My Family, vanilla dissolving salt
half a city away in my other home, each dry blink in synch

watching her, seeing her cry the first time, as she reads aloud, as I eat

all I remember is that voice, that taste, that beat, and each dry blink
the wonder of seeing such sadness, pure, without defeat

in someone else’s story, someone else’s death, someone else torn

watching her, seeing her cry the first time, as she reads, as I eat
I will taste mourning, salt and sweet in each note, each voice, the past born

No Need To Argue, French Vanilla ice cream and tear-dry eyes

this bridge spanning silence, with taste, with sound; without hate, without scorn

Walk Two Moons, pawpaw with lime, and for once, not me who cries