Mother Tongue

I know where me mammie come from
somewhere that she belong,
riding Atlantic wave,
singing a Guinea song,
walking the hallowed cave 
of her mother tongue,
barefoot from Chad to Brong,
She be ransomed
from the Horn of Alkebulan,
Arabian stash,
taken from Tanzania,
stolen like a bass beat,
breaking through brass,
I know where me mama come from,
somewhere that she belong,
sprouting from alluvial mire
surviving like a beating heart
pounding like a talking drum
tiptoeing over we mother tongue
from Yoruba to Cote D' ivoire
She be kidnapped
from the Bight of Benin
Portuguese cash,
taken to the Caribbean,
sold for sugar cane
whipped into a reggae beat,
gyrating to calypso,
dividing we mother tongue
betweenTrinidad and Tobago
singin' a creole song,
bobbin' for Barbado's

Stepping through the serpentine fire funkin' for Kingston,

In a patois reggae choir

I know where me mammie come from,
somewhere that she belong,
heading to America,
picking cotton in Carolina,
praying to Orisha,
calling him Jesus, divine,
losing we mother tongue,
growing another one,
she be geechee
she gwine.  Victori ©