Don't Forget the Fallen(Collaboration with Sharmeka)

Ties that bind her to the ceiling of the slave shipSo heavy are the shackles embedded in her wrist the sounds of chains ring like dusty liberty bellsthe piercing moans interrupt the calming of her conscience as the vessel leaves traces of ivory diamonds on theocean floor. She tried to recall the moment she let go of her mother's handHer abba's promise to die for herBut there was nothing she could doShe was forcibly removed from her families' nameTold to wipe their black from her porcelain faceBut she couldn't They made her sick with hopes to find a cure a thousand leagues below the seaThey dragged her by the back of the neck and threw her in And warning her to be a good gal and others among her scratched her mind whenever she got an itch to bend the bars with her willShe heard the overseers’ joke pulling the cowry shells off her neckYour name is 'Lolita,' and she repeated her true name SwahiliThe one that her abba pronounced under the quarter moonThe one that they rebuked and butchered with their broken English tongueOnly to go retire to kiss their false gold to toy with babes in Toylandplaying with their tiki dolls after hoursAnd how was she was to return to the heart of her abbaAlready broken in, who would want her nowUnpure, uncleanShe wonderedWhat would they do with her treason they left in her womb?when they stop for whisky at the slave tradeHow will she get her sweetness backThe poison out that they injected in her There white semen, their white demonPerhaps she should have been pushed over board Before they railroaded her body for she was already deadAnd what lies under the vessel should not be feared but welcomed release unto her spirit Was she to go to her abba to put her head in his handsAnd deny that she has been spoiled But she wouldn't, she would be quietShe would fill the breeze of her motherShe would hear the voices of the fallenthat sinked like a string of black pearls to the bottomless hope So she didn't cry out instead she whispers don't forget and the night wind echoes don't forgetThe sea will tellThis poem is a Collaboration with Sharmeka Written November 22nd, 2001 © on Nov 22 2001 02:23 PM PST   0 • 12