I come from far far away
I come from conquered soil and enchanted tongues
I want to tell you where I’m from
But I’m not sure my body remembers
I am all the lost girls searching for their bodies to bring back home
I am everything my ancestors could ever wish for
These are holy waters
Magic flows through here and cascades out of me like a waterfall
We were baptized long before you came here
Long before we took on your last names
Long before we were made slaves
We were royal before we were buried under the waves
These are sacred waters
Deep like the roots of our mothers,
and fathers and their mothers and their fathers
Dark like the brown of the inside of an avocado
There is richness in our skin
I have been waiting to dive deep within
I am the memory of a country that I am unable to pass on
But there are stories of devotion
in the tenderness of your sweet plantain
Let me remind you of the fire inside of me
when you bite into the pepper compote
I am ripe enough to be picked now
I am ready to let the pain go
