An African Child

I am an African child
though I don't know if I may call myself one
I have never been to a farm
much less carried a cutlass
I have never tried to trap a rabbit
and I have never caught one
I do not have beads tied around my waist
or tribal marks etched on my face
I have never been painted with white chalk
and I have never danced at a native festival
but still I am an African child
born of a father whose fathers
carried cutlasses,trapped rabbits, wore beads
they had tribal marks on their faces
they danced at the festivals of the gods
and they felt the imprint of native chalk
on their skin
they were African children
but they were of a different Africa
an Africa that we will never see again.