Legacy
TREASURES OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
BY ZAKIYYAH ALI
My/Our legacy is as dark and vast
As the great Milky Way
With all Universes attached
It is long, deep, as unexplored
As the darkest depth of the ocean waters
Forever as the pyramids and sphinx
My/Our legacy is that of
Countless millions of souls and spirits
Lost in the worldwide view of history
It runs like crude oil in the Earth
And flows stronger than the mightiest river
Like the grains of sand in the widest desert
It cannot be counted
My/Our legacy has no end
My/Our legacy will
Continue and continue and continue
Way into the future
Past all of our hopes and dreams
Failures, successes, life, death, birth, ups and downs
For Father Time and Mother Earth hold me tight
My/Our legacy is black, melanin-enriched
Reinforced by eons and eons of DNA
By way of Alkebulan, touching Kemet
Zanzibar, Zimbabwe, Great African Wall
Timbuktu, Dahomey, Carthage, Ku Mali
Niger, Benin, Axum, Nok culture, Chad, Sudan
Just saying
My/Our legacy grows and grows and flourishes
Like bright sunrays overtaking the night
Strong, awesome, sacred, of long endurance
Vibrant, electromagnetic, mystic, enlightened
Giving its all to the family, community, world, Universe
And beyond