Grandmother's Prayer

During a recent trip to Mexico, my grandmother gave me a ritual to explain how to ward off feelings of fear. As part of the ritual, the prayer below is used during the sweeping of the body. For more of Mexican indigeneous sweeping rituals, see http://personalwebs.oakland.edu/~dow/personal/papers/cnms/cnms.html.

Sombra mia
Querida mia
Ven a mi
Estoy sin ti

Shade of mine
My beloved
Come to me
I am without you


The poem is a simple expression of longing. The loneliness of the speaker is apparent, but the gentle and familiar relationship between the speaker and divine protection is also expressed. The first line sees the divine as protector; the second as a lover or child. The last two lines show that complementary relationship between the speaker and the divine and the necessity that they both be present.