In the Beginning, There Was the Word
For Joe Minter, the African Village in America, and 1504
And when those white-sailed ships
piled us together, cargo in the hull of hell,
the word rode with us, our tongues
anointed with the power of God.
When the lash found our language,
when they said don’t read or write,
our tongues were still gilded with a heavenly word.
We still sang that holy song,
even in this strange land. Even here, God spoke
to us and through us.