I wish I could say I miss Africa

But I do not even know what she is nor her name

It feels as if I've been stripped of something that is my very being

I miss my home

But I've never been

I've forgotten the culture and the way of things

But I've never even had the memories to hold

I wish I could say I am African without a second of hesitation

But for a girl who has been there once at such a young age it feels like there is nothing to be

Living off of glances and vanished memory 

My mother calls for me

With a sound I never knew belonged to me 

Turned my head, away from where my head and heart belong to rest

Strings of life attached at my fingertips, waving through air and sea, tying me to an earth that belongs to me