Diaspora

by Jennifer Orgill (Canada)

The streets were not paved in gold,
but in ice, winds howling
And we shivered in our thin coats and inadequate footwear
Oh why did we leave our Motherland?

Yet, She was a Mother who had essentially cast us out,
denied of a basic birthright,
Rejected in favour of those with lighter hue;
Splitting families .

Our adoptive Mother opened welcoming arms
Embracing us as we reached out with timid, uncertain hands,
Allowed us to prosper according to our own merits.

Now things have changed in the land of our birth,
but we have changed too
Just as one cannot go back into the womb,
so we must continue to forge a different path,
Sometimes regretfully, ambivalent
But the die has been cast.

poem members Diaspora