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Done

by Paula Watson
December 2006

I met him by dreams mystical pool
His whole demeanor was oh so very cool
This magnificent creation from heaven must have fallen

His hair was black and curly
Scorched by the sun's red-hot glow
He stretched out his hands and beckoned me to follow

His hands were dark and rough
And his eyes told of unaccounted bravery
They held me in their embrace of slavery
I was bewildered by his whole being
Frightened by his whole mysterious meaning

He must be from the past
An ebony-faced slave running from his unpleasant task

He took me through dry thick mist to an unreal abyss
For it was not the world I knew
it was unreal
A life filled drawing my unconscious mind drew

It was a world of donkey carts and buggies
It was a world to which only my mind has the keys
It was a world of long past centuries
It was a world about which I only heard stories
It was about history
It was about slavery
Black bodies carrying bundles
Muscles bulging beneath ragged apparel
It was the time when the ruler was the Whiteman?s gavel

I saw him on the auction block
I saw him handsome and black
Black shiny angel
Stripped of his African apparel
He came from across many seas
The Whiteman pushed him to his knees
Thinking they had won
But the black man's pride is stronger than his oppressor's gun

Oh ancestor from the past
Did You not hear me ask?
Did You not hear my question?
Why ancestor, oh why did you not flinch
why did you not move an inch when the oppressors whip came down upon your back
He answered little sister
It?s because I am black

Black is my pride
Which the Whiteman cannot abide
Black is the colour of my skin
Black is the beauty of my kin
Black are the inaudible cries stuck in my throat
Black were my emotions when I was carried away like cargo in a boat
Black is my name
Black is the reason why I am not ashamed
Black are mine eyes when I look to the sky
And echo my inaudible cries

Then he was gone
And I was left alone
The mist cleared
The pool disappeared
But my ancestor's spirit remained
Remained in my heart and soul and I was not ashamed