My Heritage
I am the golden skin laboring under the beating sun,
sweat dripping,
brows furrowed.
Mining for America’s version of gold,
the white clouds cutting at my skin.
I am the ship sailing across the sea.
Fighting against the angry waves,
wishing for Poseidon to rise and strike me down,
wishing for a way to save my passengers from their fate,
wishing I could send them back to their homes,
to wonderful Africa.
Rich, vibrant culture,
astonishing landscapes,
fascinating wildlife,
But I’m as chained and powerless as them.
I am also the chain,
the conqueror,
the evil.
One side bowing down to another,
both the colonized and the colonizer in one.
Now I rise as tall as the mountains around me.
Robins peck at the ground below,
bees buzz around the blooming flowers,
nature in harmony.
Harmony in the High Country,
harmony within me.
Two adverse sides brought together by the force of time,
pushed, packed, and pressured,
until a diamond is formed.
I am the diamond.
-Amira Younce, senior
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