Three Words

Li-Young Lee

1957 –

God-My-Father gave me three words:
O-My-Love
O-My-God
Holy-Holy-Holy.

God-My-Mother’s wounds will never heal.

God-My-Brother is always alone in the library.

Meanwhile, I can’t remember

how many brothers I have.

God-My-Sister, combing the knots out of my hair,

says that’s because

so many brothers died before I learned to count,

and the ones who died after I acquired arithmetic

so exceeded the number of brothers still alive.

God-My-Father gave me three words to live by.

O-My-Love. O-My-God. Holy-Holy-Holy.

Why won’t God-My-Mother’s wounds heal?

Wounding myself doesn’t cauterize her wounds.

Another wound to her won’t seal her open blooms.

Her voice is a flowering tree struck by lightning.

It goes on greening and flowering,

but come petal-fall, its blossoms dropping

thunder so loud I must cover my ears to hear her.

Meanwhile, God-My-Brother spends every afternoon

alone with the books God-My-Father writes.

Some days he looks up

from a page, wearing the very face of horror.

Ask him what’s the matter

and he’ll stare into your eyes and whisper, “Murder!”

He’ll howl, “Murder!” He’ll scream, “Murder!”

Until he’s hoarse or exhausted.

Or until God-My-Sister sits him down,

combs and braids his hair,

and sorts his dreams.

I’m counting out loud all of my brothers’ names,

the living and the dead, on my fingers.

But the list is long,

leading back to the beginning

of the building of the first human cities,

and I keep losing my place and starting over.

Once, I remembered them all

except the first pair.

God-My-Sister says I must never say those names, never

pronounce the names of that first pair of brothers

within earshot of God-My-Brother.

God-My-Father gave me only three words.

How will I ever learn to talk like other people?

God-My-Mother sings, and her voice

comes like winter to break open the seeds.

God-My-Brother spends most of his time alone.

God-My-Sister is the only one

he’ll ever let touch his face.

God-My-Sister, you should see her.

I have so many brothers,

but forever there will be

only one of her, God-My-Sister.

God-My-Father says from those three words

he gave me, all other words descend, branching.

That still leaves me unfit

for conversation, like some deranged bird

you can’t tell is crying in grief or exultation,

all day long repeating,

“O, my God. O, my love. Holy, holy, holy.”