To the Diaspora
You did not know you were Afrika
To the Diaspora - meaning Summary
Remembering Homeland Through Journey
Brooks addresses members of the African diaspora who did not realize their identity was tied to Africa. The speaker insists their continent is both origin and destiny, promising a symbolic sun that reveals inherent value. Listeners are skeptical, but the poem urges a return or reconnection despite hardship. It ends as a call to ongoing, difficult work of reclaiming and rebuilding amid dissonance and danger.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen you set out for Afrika you did not know you were going. Because you did not know you were Afrika. You did not know the Black continent that had to be reached was you. I could not have told you then that some sun would come, somewhere over the road, would come evoking the diamonds of you, the Black continent-- somewhere over the road. You would not have believed my mouth. When I told you, meeting you somewhere close to the heat and youth of the road, liking my loyalty, liking belief, you smiled and you thanked me but very little believed me. Here is some sun. Some. Now off into the places rough to reach. Though dry, though drowsy, all unwillingly a-wobble, into the dissonant and dangerous crescendo. Your work, that was done, to be done to be done to be done.
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