Jasmine Barnes

to my daughter, not yet conceived

i dreamed of you last night black and white sonogram in the trembling hands of my mother a photograph of infinity a sketch of the future proof of the impossible

woke up, hand to my chest protecting my heartbeat the sacred rhythm to one day usher you into the wold

because you come from me, you are Black

this is your inheritance

the hands that fed your great-grandmother and your grandmother and me

so that you might find home in my warm body and crack open into the world a thousand blessings sealing each curl melanin glazed skin dreams, balmed like shea butter

divinely protected