Then And Now

Once we were free

somewhere else

    or so they say.

Then we were slaves

somewhere closer

     or so they say.

Then we were freed

somewhere near

     or so they say.

And now,

what are we now

     here?

And what am I now

a young woman

     here?

I don’t feel free

     here

whatever they’re saying

     now.

 

I listen out for them still,

     but now

they have nothing to say

     for me

          here,

me, a woman of colour.