I Am Born

*Updated version of Born

I am born
Raised a world away
Beyond the mountains

I am born
A seedling Palmye wayal*
I am born a toddler running
Even with the Hibiscus

I am born
In a mountainous country
That was the first to fight for freedom
Where English is white
Where Kreyol is my mother
Tongue

I am born
Into deprivation
That tears at families
With a nationalism
Earned from survival
Instilled at a young age

I am born
Named
Sea of sorrow
God is my judge

I am born
Named
Among the rose bushes

I am born
Renamed
A darkly complexioned inhabitant
Of the church valley

I am born
Sent to an orphanage
Where my future
Was decided for me

I am born


*Palmye wayal creole for Royal Palm, national tree of Haiti