The women of Dan dance with swords in their hands to mark the time when they were warriors

I did not fall from the sky / I / nor descend like a plague of locusts / to drink color and strength from the earth / and I do not come like rain / as a tribute or symbol for earth's becoming / I come as a woman / dark and open / some times I fall like night / softly and terrible / only when I must die / in order to rise again. // I do not come like a secret warrior / with an unsheathed sword in my mouth / hidden behind my tongue / slicing my throat to ribbons / of service with a smile / while the blood runs / down and out / through holes in the two sacred mounds / on my chest. // I come like a woman / who I am / spreading out through nights / laughter and promise / and dark heat / warming whatever I touch / that is living / consuming / only / what is already dead.