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CIRCLING THE DAUGHTER You came I to be I in the Month of Malcolm, And the rain fell with a fierce gentleness, Like a martyr's tears, -forTandi On the streets of Manhattan when your light was lit; And the City sang you Welcome. Now I sit, Trembling in your presence. Fourteen years Have brought the moon-blood, the roundness, The girl-giggles, the grand-leaps. We are touch-tender in our fears. You break my eyes with your beauty: Ooouu-oo-baby-1-love-you. Do not listen to the lies of old men Who fear your power, Who preach that you were "born in sin." A flower is moral by its own flowering. Reach always within For the Music and the Dance and the Circling. 0 Tandiwe, by Beloved of this land, Your spring will come early and When the earth begins its humming, Begin your dance with men With a Grin and a Grace of whirling. Your place is neither ahead nor behind, Neither right nor left. The world is round. Make the sound of your breathing A silver bell at midnight And the chilling wet of the morning dew ... You break my eyes with your beauty: Ooouu-oo-baby-1-love-you. 109 ...

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