Watered Memories Under the Virginia Sun

In the regal modesty
of a Nubian queen,
there she sat
at the edge of the water;
her legs hanging over.
In the wet softness thereof,
her feet rested.   Yet her stare over the pool
was as if staring over the ocean—
A centuries old innate yearning—to a distant
motherland; a stoic pose of freedom…
But not at last.
Life and living still had its hidden shackles.
Muffled hidden shackles…jingling
in the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’.

Despite the ‘white washing’,
the cleansing of the ‘shocking
bottoms’ and the paneling
of the old quarters,
the land of ‘first sails’ and cardinals,
remained a mess.

What a strange equality? 
Though the past had gone—as had time—
it remains.   And the future waits
a distant reality—lingering.  Lingering in the land
‘…for lovers’—where true justice remained jilted.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2017

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