Ancestral Thinking

A poem about reflection

She sits on the beach looking into the open sea

Sand beneath her toes

She reflects on how she came to be this Caribbean lady

And wonders if the sun could speak of what it has seen

Upon her, what stories of the Caribbean’s history would it bestow?

She thinks about the Caribbean’s indigenous people such as the Taino’s and the Arawaks

And she ponders on the life they may have had

Before the Europeans invaded their lands

Took over their homes, absconded with their riches

Interrupted their future’s plans

And turned what was once good bad

She thinks of the Africans who perished during their involuntary and horrific journey to the Caribbean’s islands

Tears of sympathy fall inside her

As she wonders what the exact number would be

Of the millions of Africans that are permanently asleep in the bed of the sea

*hmmm, If they could rise and see their people now what would their perception of us and the world be?

She thinks of the Indians and the Chinese

Who had to leave their homes and their countries

And became absent without leave

When they too made that involuntary journey across the Indian and Atlantic oceans into the Caribbean Sea

She wonders as to whose blood runs through her veins

She is very aware that she has a European slave owner’s last name

But what she would really love to know

Is from which of her island’s indigenous people her first drop of blood came

She concludes from her thoughts that nearly the whole world has been to the islands of the Caribbean

And that this is reflected in the cultures, religions and the many dishes that are eaten

It is shown in the shades of the islander’s skin

And the type of patios that each of the islands voices sings

The thickness, the kink, the length

The overall appearance and texture of the islander’s hair

How much of it is African, Asian or European and how much of the island's indigenous people is in there

The shape of the islanders’ eyes, lips and nose

The shape of the islander’s women

Their hips, bums and toes

The Caribbean is universal and through its people this is evidently shown

She tells herself …

“Whether I like it or not,

Willingly or unwillingly

All of the people that came to the Caribbean

And interacted kindly or ungodly

With its indigenous people

Made me

The world’s continents and DNA

All runs through me

I am a product of the world because of the effects of slavery

That is how I came to be this Caribbean lady!”

Copyright © Future Poet All rights reserved

Reviews

[GalaxyGhost]

I like how this poem discusses an ancestry line of people from different nations. As a Filipino immigrant, I have been doing some research on my family line. Turns out I have an ancestor from Spain and possibly one from Chine. So I love how this poem discusses and highlights different types of ethnicity with the struggles they faced. I have experience moving to a new place and have met a couple of bullies along the way. Keep writing! It's fantastic!