A Pact with the Living

Those who have died have never left The dead are not under the earth They are in the rustling trees They are in the groaning woods They are in the crying grass They are in the moaning rocks The dead are not under the earth Those who have died have never left The dead have a pact with the living They are in the woman’s breast They are in the wailing child They are with us in the home They are with us in the crowd The dead have a pact with the living

by Birago Diop as adapted by Sweet Honey in the Rock