Thursday, 2 February 2012

Poetry - My History is Lost

My history is lost

A word went out and syllables fell apart

The intonation went flat

The meaning crumbled

And the light dust settled upon dung

My voice has fallen silent

There is no need to speak

My daughter and her daughter do not understand

Simple words and gestures

Draw blank and baffled stares

My eyes can no longer see my people

They wave, they cry, they laugh

I cannot make them out clearly

Gauze is over my eyes

And I cannot sketch them that quickly

My heart only beats and has ceased to hear

I strain and there is love but no words

The ancestors love me and I cannot remember their names

I perform all of our rituals and sacrifices

Yet my mothers and fathers are stone

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