Count Your Blessings

When all is said and done, when death eats all our kit and kin; when darkness consumes our hearts and souls, and we no longer tell our children tales of light even in dark moonlight. When all that we pass are curses to our children, and they to their children, and they to their children too, will there still be blessings to count?

But most of our curses are named Blessing so we count them still, stroking their silky smooth hair while they lick and add salt to our sores. We count them still, and give thanks too, to the gods who kept us here, to watch us and kill us; or watch us kill ourselves for them. So we count these curses still, as blessings, and name them, one by one.

Younglan Louis