Remembering Who We Are (for Al-Bishak)

 I remember 

those tomb tales that 

set you down the Nile to

see things for yourself  

and those coming 

yes, I remember 

how you used to sit up on 

the shelves of Alexandria 

beside the memories 

of long lost crowns

back then you used to 

scan the missing chapters 

and the gaps between

seeking out secrets  

I can't forget

how speck by speck you 

cleared the racial lies left 

over by the passing winds

how you used to sit 

afterwards by the sea

to dinners served by fairies 

from the scripts of legends

though we still sing with 

tongues not ours but of 

masters turned slaves trying 

to forget how to remember 

I will never forget

I shall keep the landmark 

for perhaps tomorrow we 

will hearken to your call

and try to locate our place

or perhaps some restless 

spirits defying the laws 

shall smash the locks and 

return us to who we are.

(c) Sumaila Umaisha

The poem was inspired by Professor Al-Bishak's BLACK PAPYRUS, an intellectual work that traces global origins of writing and written literature to black Africa.

From the archive of:

APETi