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Nuwe skryfwerk | New writing > Poësie | Poetry > English > Published poets > These men These men |
Diana Ferrus - 2007-02-13
For Patrick Tarique Mellet
In handwritten, yellowed journals,
etched in as names of months,
Greek Gods or other ridiculous terms
these men
were recorded to be from Java, Batavia, India
Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique and Angola
In different hues of Black they staggered ashore
limping into
the next set of chains
with half of their hearts only,
the other half broken and buried
in Java, Batavia, India
Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique and Angola
And they built cities and towns
and bridges and dams.
They built a house admired from afar,
these men –
prison-walled bodies but memory-free
journeyed through seas and open skies
to where their true remembrance still lies
And I look at them
these men –
my ancestors, my fathers, my brothers, my sons
and wonder what
was committed to memory
and what was not, by
these men –
my ancestors, my fathers, my brothers, my sons
who never stopped limping
into the next set of chains
with half of their hearts
broken and buried
in the cities and towns
and bridges and dams
of our land
And I grieve for them,
these men …