For My African Sisters

We are the queens of the motherland

We bore the breaths that seek to see us crumble

And yet we stand

Gorgeous and strong

We have fought blood and tears

For the lives of our children

Healing the red wounds

On the skin given to us by our ancestors

Though bludgeoned over and over again

We stand

We flew towards the big dipper

Jumping from star to star

Until we could finally rest on the crest of mother moon

Where our songs of rejoicing weren’t silenced

Where our freedom dances were praised

And we could lift babes to the sky

Knowing they would fly higher and faster than us

Through the torture and the terror

When our backs were gnarled into submission

And we were forced to disguise our natural beauty

In the shame of low hung heads

When we could not laugh or smile

Without feeling judged and inadequate

We rose

And we stand

For we are the queens of the land of our ancestors

We are forged from the core of the earth

And the soft wind from the sea

The sun gladly shines in our face

Saying to us how magnificent we are!

Despite the spite

We stand

Gorgeous and Strong