by THWWhen we met for the first time I felt it could not be
Something about you triggered a distant memory
At that time, the how and from where I couldn’t remember
But, you became a thousand piece puzzle
I was determined to put together
For distracted days and restless nights I tried to decipher your familiarness
Dug deep into the mental records of my brain
Listened to the “natural instinct” of my womynness
Only to find puzzle pieces of my own
That had been buried under years of spoon-fed bullshit
These could now replace the ones that kept me bound
The ones that never really fit
Now with a true feminist ideology my connection to you I could feel more freely
So with all my will and might again I searched the annals of all my herstory
What was revealed to me in what I think was a dream
Has left me with emotions I refuse to restrain
This dream, or sort of quantum leap, was, ok, let me try to explain
You and I, two sun-kissed little girls running, playing down the Ivory Coast
We were many sons and daughters of the wives of the village king, but you I loved the most
One day with guns and chains speaking words of foreign tongue
Men surrounded our beloved land
White hands on black skin, pulling us apart
I screamed for you as they dragged my bare feet through the sand
And I screamed all the way to the African shore
While they pushed me toward the bowls of a ship of wretched stature
At sea I prayed to the ancestors that I would one day see you again
Then I slipped my tiny feet from the leg irons, leapt into the sea,
For life without you I could not endure
The dream did not end there just as quickly as it began it faded
Another scene appeared slowly and it took me a moment to comprehend it
You and I, young teens, platted hair, plain frocks, our cotton-pickin’ hands calloused
We whispered secrets and giggled, got scolded by the elders
To get back to our days work for the ‘massah’
Fieldwork filled our days, preparing supper and taking care of family filled our nights
That we would always be best friends, like kin,
Was my prayer every Sunday to the Lord Jesus Christ
One day ‘massah’ came and yanked you from the field
He made you stand up straight and turn around like a wind-up doll for show
I saw a white man in a top hat pull some money out his pocket
Told you to go tell your kinfolk you won’t be back here no mo’
When they finally pried your arms from ‘round my neck I collapsed, to the dirt I fell
I swallowed every secret I would have whispered to you and it caused my belly to swell
I spoke less and cried more until nine months later my new prayer came true
Precious Lord took my hand and lead me home,
But not before I named all my secrets after you
I was overcome with emotions unsure of how much more of these revelations I could take
My body shook with grief, my eyes overflowed with tears,
But I was the one who opened this floodgate
As the final vision began to take shape before me, I braced myself and let it come
Discovering another piece to the puzzle of our past was my one and only consolation
You and I, college students, big afros, dashikis, bell-bottoms,
Planned to take over the powers that be
We talked of going back to the Motherland,
Yeah we were young, gifted, and Black with a capital B
We told all the young brothers that we dated, we put each other first and men second
If they could dig it they could stay
One day this cat came banging on our dorm room door
He’d heard a rumor ‘bout us two and demanded that we explain
You played it cool, looked him dead in the eye and said, “We don’t have to explain nothing
To you or anybody else about how we love each other”
That’s when I heard the pop, smelled the burning
In the hospital I heard someone say, “She didn’t know what hit her”
I prayed to the Goddesses who understood the way our souls intertwine
The Goddesses who have given us the courage and strength
To let our love withstand the tests of time
I saw one come and take you in her arms, hold you close to her bosom, then set you free
It wasn’t too much longer after that I saw another come, and she did the same for me
I know all of this is overwhelming, incredible to believe, it was for me
But when we met for the first time, I just felt it could not be
So here we are, you and I, in a different time and place altogether
If you let me, I can show you how our love endured for so long,
And you too will remember
