The Dutch Is My Father
When still a child
I learned that plantation colony was belonging
to my father, the one who brought my mother
from the Dutch East Indies,
and the one whom he loved full in rage.
I was a small Negro, beautiful, fat, and disabled,
helping her as far as the porch
along its edge where I now walk
what silence reigns among them!
I remember when slavery in Suriname was abolished
by the Netherlands in 1863, but my mother
was not fully released her love toward my father
until I grew as a star,
and I remember, back there, in Paramaribo,
along the its outskirt where I now walk
what silence reigns among them!
Still I remember.
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