Title: Remember Post by: Eja on October 10, 2006, 04:29:15 PM "Have you remembered
yet or are you still in forgetfulness Like when you misrecognised your sister your African sister When you called her trade-goods When you sold her because you did not remember you did not recognise your sister. Have you remembered yet or are you still in forgetfulness Like when you returned home in the company of your blood's enemy to fight your brother so your enemy could rule your lands which you had forgotten were your lands When you rode down when you cut down your brother because you could not remember your natural ties. Remember your name Or will you still answer to the sound you were yoked with after you were named as trade-goods? When you meet your ancestors will you remember thier faces or will you look past them searching for the pale face of the one you were told died for your sins? When this life is over when stories are retold What will you say to the faces of the ones who died because you did not remember?" There is much we find hard to live with without the use of a mask Things we know whose names we will never call aloud Most of all we find it hard to deal with the memory of ourselves what we were yesterday what we are today what we may be tommorow I cannot tell which from the self who is a victim of colonialism to the self is a collaborator with neo-colonialism I cannot tell which is my Self I start but I stop as my arms cannot encompass the sorrows the anger the fear the desire My spirit cannot grasp this much How can I love the captive self without feeling anger as I remember it's tribulations How can I live with this anger as I feed from the same plate as the ones who profitted from the agonies of the captive? This love for self is opaque hard to overstand as I know not yet from my many selves which is my real Self "Love is not opaque Love is as simple as breath As common as the gaze of a mother African If you ever did breath If you ever had a mother then you knew Love You knew Love before you knew anything else You knew of Love before you knew of this self and that self" The selves I overstand The Self is what I find hard to penetrate "To penetrate the inpenetrable Allow yourself to be encompassed There is nothing that the Spirit cannot encompass African To encompass the infinite allow yourself to be penetrated. The infinite all that is all that was all that will be is in your breath You had it and you let it go But you can have it again if you are wise enough in the use of your breath. To remember wisdom African look without prejudice or favour at this self and at that self Enhance the beauty of this self with the love of one who finds joy in what he beholds Cure the pain of that self with the love of one who finds fulfilment in his task. And when you are done African never forget a step of the road that led you here." |