Shell Money

Saratee smiled, tears glistening on chocolate brown skin
Tenderly approaching, a gift held in her gnarled hands
All at once an agonised cry leapt forth - I cannot stop
Must we part?

I bow my neck to receive it
Her grandmother made it, each shell disc hand-drilled, strung and roughly rounded
It’s heavy like my tears cascading
Cool, sharp-edged shell discs gently press my skin

I tilt my head, our eyes meet
Our tears like the floods of Cyclone Namu 1986
The year we met when I arrived a stranger to Solomon Islands
Our tears run now, we hug - the shell money crushed between us

I remember
Saratee - gentle, humble, graceful
A bride wearing this precious love gift - all that she owns
Handed down mother to daughter, now to me - a love gift

I don’t think I could ever part with it
Though an ocean separates us
Our love endures
Ageless as this love gift