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Unlike ancestors,
with their coffles
chaining them to ships’
bellies and bowels---they
volunteered to be packed
like sardines; to be
rescued at sea
to be free of old tyranny---
happy for the new that awaits---
fortified in the future
by the cruel injustice of home.
Thus, armed with the weaponry
of steel faith, they chose
to challenge the sea to be free---
floating on the waves of hope---seeking
the possibility of a morsel of liberty.
What a pitiful irony---they paid for the journey
the ancestors had no choice in taking:
maybe one day---their children
will be able to pay---returning home willingly.
