To Those Who came Before Me

Mon, 02/12/2018 - 14:45 -- DorcasG

This is an open letter to all those who came before me.

     To those who paved , built , and walked through the perilous path of life before me.

To those who are still living , breathing , fighting , and surviving everyday single day

                                                 You are my living heroes.

To those who no longer have breath in their lungs or a beat  in their hearts yet whose spirits                                    

                               continue to thrive and live on beyond the grave

                                                  You are my guardians.

 

      This is to my ancestors and forerunners those that I knew in this and to those that

                                        I will only know in eternity.

You are a part of me literally an integral part of  who I am injected  into my very DNA.

A twisted  rope- ladder of identity , dreams , hopes , experiences , and life that I carry     

                 within my very bones while your legacy courses through my veins.

 

     I am writing to you as your very legacy that continues to thrive , strive , and fight

                                              every single  day of my life.

I want you to know that everything that you struggled , fought , sacrificed, and toiled over

                                     in your life has come to fruition.

 

I want you to know that your descendants have risen above the injustice and oppression  of the

                                                          past.                           

       Yet I know that there is still more work  to be done and more battles to be fought.

Thank you for gifting me the will and fire in my very soul to speak up for and fight for my

                                                          rights.

     Yet also thank you for the strength , resilience , and stubbornness to never give up.

 

I traveled back to my homeland  and I walked through  the exact steep , tough , rough and  

                                    dust-ridden paths that you  paved.  

Through  the cold and wet tea-leave fields that those who came before me  tilled and planted.

But you did not just plant tea in those fields in fact when I looked and listened closely I

                                                  knew that

your hopes , dreams,  and even legacies were also strewn and planted in those fields.

 

It seemed as if the very earth and the ground that I was walking on was filled with your

                                       stories and lives and thus my history.

I visited and waded in the very river and falls that you fought for my very freedom in even

                                        though I was not yet in existence.

 

        In that moment I felt your spirits resulting throughout the water ,  forest and

         leaves until the very wind that carried them entered and nudged against my skin.

     Then suddenly in that very moment something changed in the very core of who I was.   Suddenly I was whole because inside of me something clicked and a piece of my heart and soul

                                           that I never knew came into place .

              

                                    I finally knew and connected with my roots and

                       identity and knowing your stories  lit a fire and passion in my belly.

I realized that everything I have is because you fought , sacrificed , and even died to bring to pass. I am your very  hopes and dreams realized and trust me I will never let  your voices or     

           legacies be shut down or silenced for I know that my voice is merely your echo.

            This is the end of my open letter and I hope that it finds you well

                                                            Thank you

This poem is about: 
Me
My family
My community
My country

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