the eye of God is planted between my brow the eye of God is
opening at the top of my head the eye of God was made with
blood, was made from the hands of an ungodly master the eye
of God pierced my head in two the eye of God said look and I
saw it the eye of God showed me rivers and fields and trees
that would shelter me on my way the eye of God told me I
would not be enslaved the eye of God showed me all the
shades of my humanity showed me how to see my people my
people my people are the eye of God, too my people bloom
from my brow my people are the top of my head and the soles
of my feet my people are made with blood my people are
hurting at the hands of an ungodly master my people have
pierced me in two my people said look and I saw them my
people showed me their blood in the rivers my people showed
me their blood in the fields my people showed me their bodies
in the trees and the shelter I could make for them on my way
my people told me they were not enslaved my people showed
me all the shades of my humanity my people showed me how
to see my people how to see my God my God and my people
are made of the same cloth the same blood my people showed
up in my vision and I said oh God show me how to make a
way—
Copyright © 2025 by Ashley M. Jones. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on January 22, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
“This is one of five linked poems about Harriet Tubman which I wrote as a part of a collaboration with composer Dr. Rebekah Griffin Greene for our orchestral piece, A Portrait of Harriet. Tubman has been my guide: A poem about her revealed my calling as a poet, and her humanity has been an example to me. This poem explains the truth that God is everywhere. As a Black person, God is found within us and in our revolutionary movements. There is no separating God from a radical liberation and a complete denouncement of colonial gestures, violences, and beliefs.”
—Ashley M. Jones