To re-member is to put things

Back together.

To make whole

The scattered scraps of collective memory

Of who we once were.

Like dry bones of broken limbs

Strewn across the barren wasteland

Reminiscences litter the bleak emptiness

Of souls lost for generations

Desperate to forget yet recall

A past buried under a weight of pain

Replete with hopes and dreams,

Recollections of loved ones

Dead and unmourned,

Or left behind crying with arms outstretched.

They shuffled painfully,

Out of that dark dank little cavern

Through that little door

Of no return

To sail across water

Wetter than tears

Crying “Father!

Does your magic stretch this far

To save us.”

Tell the stories to your children

& your children’s children.

Teach them to sing

In the language of your people.

They will recall and sing

Uncomprehending

But one day

In the presence of those who know,

they will REMEMBER.

©️Nomathemba Pearl Dzinotyiwei 2019