Tribe
This here the man
his body a vessel,
ancestral hopes ensconced within it
deeply rooted, entwined with his very flesh,
his very being
The compulsion as much of him as the tide
being drawn in by the moon
he toils and he transcends
he walks alongside his ancestors
To his elders he exclaims, ‘I'm here, am I not?’
the burden, heavy on the chest,
unspoken
The Man’s Man.
About this poem
The poem is about my late father who migrated with his extended family from Uganda to the United Kingdom. His migration links him to his previous generation, namely his father and grandfather who migrated from India to Uganda. The poem draws on how the hopes of his ancestors are now contained within him. This burden is a heavy one, and my father's generation was one to speak about their feelings.
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"Tribe" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/106206/tribe>.
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