Grounding
I try to find the words to convey what it means to be on these lands
I strain to translate into language what the body feels and what the soul experiences to characters on a page
Then, I remember the poems, not in words, but in the senses
Come along with me…
I pensively drag my fingertips along the jagged, whitewashed bricks of the foreboding structures
Peeling paint unearthing stories made hidden and reemerging
I trace the veins of the smooth black leaf in Kakum and marvel at its black beauty
I kneel down to connect with the hallowed ground on which my grandmothers and grandfathers wept, hoped, and prayed
I lower my head and touch the worn bricks in prayer and supplication
I tread the path of my ancestors to the cool waters, trying to take in every step - in communion with their energy that remains
I still my feet in the river and feel the waters anew, the same elements that touched those who have gone before me
I inhale the humid thickness of dank cells, wombs - cages transforming as death yields transcendent life in body and spirit
I taste the strange fruits as their sweetness dances on my tongue. The gifts given to us in abundance for nourishment and healing
I sink my feet into the sands along the shores of the gulf and pray to ancestors for direction to find the path to fulfill my purpose in earth
I vibrate with the cadence of the drums and move freely with the earth, with spirit, abounding in joy, and exuberance
I rejoice in the chorus of waves whose roaring refrain beckons me nearer to harmonize and
resonate together
Motherland, I feel you
I lean in to hold you
I yield to your warmth and wisdom
I feel your breath against my black skin
I smile as you tickle my legs from earth beneath
I drink in the songs whose mysteries will unfold in time
Until then, I release my whole body - my whole being to rest here NOW
Darnell Epps is Director of Fair Play at Hawken School in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.