A seedling
How it all began
Sown in the soil of her ancestors
With a new topsoil of freedom
Germinated by the oppressors
An angel born from the sins of a demon
Absorbing all the knowledge around
The ideals and beliefs having a profound
Effect on her development
Quietly intelligent
Basking and blooming in the sun of spring
Womanhood
Roots digging deep and wide
Watered by the tears she cried
The stream that came from Nanny's eyes
That forced her to marry a man she despised
To protect her
Logan the collector
To affect, subject, and disrespect her
The ring on her left hand
Adding countless rings to her trunk
The importance of her own happiness shrunk
The mule of the world
Everything she should forget she remembers
Her inner beauty withering
With Logan, it was endless Decembers
Until she met Joseph Starks
Instant infatuation sparks
Run, run, run away
From the cold, from the bitter, from the sunless day
That was life with Killicks
The road brought a new mix
Of life and possibility
Hope blinding Janie to what she couldn't see
Obsessed with power and autonomy
Because there's a new mayor in town
In Eatonville, Joe wears the crown
Janie branching out into the new
Just a trophy for Jody to abuse
Don't think
Don't dream
Don't let your hair be seen
Don't smile
Don't laugh
God forbid she speak on her own behalf
Do as I say
Day after day
Year after year
Because nobody cares what you think, dear
Wilting from the eclipsed sun
Her new happiness gone before it begun
Her summer falls into winter's grips
Still growing feet into the air
Her pear tree taking small sips
By observing and learning with great care
Thrashed by a male ego
So fragile she takes it down in one blow
Across her face his hand hits
Abused until the moment on his death bed she sits
With death brings life
Her Renaissance begins as a widowed wife
Her hair rags burn with a passion for freedom
Alone she can truly find herself in this new season
A season for Janie
To thrive
Instead of just to survive
Intellectually blooming in no mans land
That is, until Tea Cake asks for her hand
It begins with a game of checkers
A symbol of equality
His speciality lies in botany
Inspiring some frivolity
The teenager she never got to be
Tea Cake is the best fertilizer
Providing her quiet intelligence with a megaphone
Doing all he could to provide for her
Even through she's the one with the keys to the throne
A new life for just the two of them
Away they go
Just a shimmer of doubt
Janie leaving her wealth for a new kind of richness
A flood of love after decades of drought
Cupid stuck her with his sickness
Initial fears melt into the horizon
His youthful ways creating some mishaps
But overall, her life he did enlighten
Off to the muck
Never getting stuck
In a life of monotony
Not just working for a quick buck
But for a life of purpose and quality
Working for bliss
Blissfully working
An unadulterated satisfaction for which she'd been searching
The calm before the storm
The hurricane came for her with scorn
A beast
Sinking its teeth
Into everything she cherished
But it didn't all perish
Well, not all at once
It was a slow coming death
One that took months and months
And drained her and wore her down
A disease that didn't make sound
But crept with madness
Leaving behind only sadness
Hurricane season was nearly over
But it's effects would spillover
They rippled out bigger and bigger
One, two, three, his finger on the trigger
But she's a better shot
Forced to murder the happiness for which she fought
The vessel that once held the only true love she had known
Had taken the key to the holiest throne
On trial and true was her love for Tea Cake
It's very questioning worsening the heartbreak
Time to bury the dead
To move ahead
And reflect on the time she was allotted
Her wound had finally clotted
Homeward bound she began
With a stronger trunk and deeper roots she did stand
No time for the trivial opinions of those who rocked back and forth
They never left their own little porch
They never experienced pure joy
Or overwhelming pain and sorrow
Their mouths -- the only futile contraption they did employ
Never looking past tomorrow
For herself, Janie found out about God and about living
About more than just normality
About its brutality
About its finality
About its wonderful irrationality
About what it means to have true individuality
She conquered the great mountain that is vitality
Janie blossomed and bloomed and grew and grew
Reaping all she could from every season
She found the secret that few knew
About a fruitful life lived with reason
And as it drew to a close
She thought about the life she chose
How it all began
With a seedling