Like I’m born to No Bond.

By Stephen Pech Gai

Like I’m born to no bond only to deserve this destiny in jumbles. Like I’m a wanted criminal that none likes. Like my plight desires draconian deterrence as benign tokens to flash a smile to my crying face in crises. Like I belong to the nonexistent edge of the world with no compassion.

You call me stateless! Vagabond! Footloose! No, I belong here! We once lived in sanctity! In benevolent consonant before the genesis of generations that had lost reminiscence of our oneness in the wake of our renaissance.

You call me stateless. No, only at the dawn of generations that had erred the words of Ubuntu. “I am because we are,” but you tired my wings, and my pride whined as you grind it.

“I am because we are,” but you caged my dream only in my ribs, and robbed me of my sense of belonging to the greater wholeness.

“I am because we are,” but you put impasses to my potential and seized my genius ingenuity.

As the words of Ubuntu unite in voices warming up for belonging, I hold my claim to our united oneness, our territory!

As my uniqueness to the greatest wholeness emerges from the shadow of the divide, and as we devise a fresh sense of belonging, I hold my claim to our united dignity, our union!

As those borderlines that cut me off dissolve in our common once-borne blood, and flesh, I hold my claim to a building block of our once concerted community and our integrity.

30 October, 2022