Alyx Chérifa Taounza-Jeminet

At the unfolding of the worlds we waited
On the threshold we waited
You did not invite us

Where is home?

Leaves shriveled and grass turned grey
And still no word spoken through
The veil
Should we not ask, is our becoming
of our own making?

Carrying the ancestors on our back
The shore called as if
We were welcoming our death

Yet you crossed and we stood still
Silence is the domain of dreadful hope

Paths of a thousand greens spread from your embrace
And we did not know which to take

But now as the tidal wave comes crashing behind
We see how quick the hand clutches and crushes

Our word still not said we finally called
And beneath us new shades formed
Commanding the elements to rebuild anew

What we once hoped you would say we were
Who we have been and still

By any other name but our own
Doom would have befallen us

We remembered

A map still wearing the scars of its abandonment
Opened again to carry us away

Hold me