Fractured Souls
O Mighty Atlantic…
What is this fascination which I have with you?
Could it be a part of me your lays trapped somewhere in midst?
You are like an old confidant with countless secrets you hold!
There’s an ancient one which haunts me today, and you guard it well…
Like the miles of warehouses, hidden within your belly
Where spirits of my ebony ancestors lie, shackled in rusted chains
Never again to see the rising sun?!
I know not why this had to be
And do I dare to ask God, Why?
So, I wait; for in time all will be revealed.
The centuries march on; they’ve left behind the invisible scars
Broken spirits, lost and weary, walk an unforgiving earth,
Carrying within fractured souls the abject pain of ancestral spirits
Separated by the gulf of time and buried, frozen in the deep.
Do you still hear the sounds of terror mingled with mournful groans;
The piercing wails of vibrant girls; and young men’s angry roars?
Do you hear the soft murmurs of young mothers comforting a child?!
Was their agony so bitter that you could not console?!
Do you recall the sound of each one’s last, labored breath?!...
I hear their screams and groans; their piteous pleas and angry roars
Echoed by wild winds and crashing waves on dark, stormy nights!
I have felt the cold and dismal pain that “waters” hate,
A dark, heavy cloak which broken spirits don.
We survived the middle passage and "seem" free;
But we know that a mortally wounded spirit cannot fly!
And though rusty chains no longer hold, spirits are held fast in place!
Where are our eyes? Give us eyes!
Father, give us new eyes so we will see!
~*~
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