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My legacy was
To be laved twice a day,
To disport myself around the garden.
Enveloped in my crisp creaseless clothes,
Encircled by the aroma of blossoms.
My gladsome day was rounded
Off with a dinner fit for a King.
My education taught me
To read, write and a lot more.
I was conditioned to expect nothing less.
Her legacy was
To toil the soil on the farm
In threadbare clothes.
Steeped in baked clay,
Engulfed by the stench of the fields.
Her meed was to eat
Whatever there was.
Her education was to do
More than her fair share.
She was privileged to expect nothing more.
We walked the earth,
We breath the same air,
Yet,
Like the two oceans,
Our lives never transgress.
Our challenge is to reconcile our inheritances with what should be.
I wrote this poem to capture the guilty feelings of the privileged plantation owners' children who on reflection have come to realise the injustice visited upon the children of the slaves and the stark disparity between the lives of those who help to build and sustain the wealth of their fathers.
Over The Rainbow is a postic collection capturing the perspective of various members of the global community over time, stemming from the Atlantic Slave Trade.
