Deported (to Rwanda)

Instinct – the forward impulse from back in time

Magnet-drawn to sentient evocation,

the close-touch scent of

a pressed flower

Blood – a river passed down from generations

The sweet suffusing stuff of life

crimson affirmation of who-when-why

our stain of loyalty

My story – shared memory of springtide days

stones skim to pattered fade

then sink in

yesterday’s sea

Reunion – grasping against the tide

Storm-damaged, disinherited

not by blood but the colour

of my skin

Deported – Persona non grata

My conviction is now the stain

that will separate

us from then