Remember

"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."