As citizen
of the English tongue
I say remember
the ship
in citizenship
for language
is the baggage
we bring -
a weight
of words to ground
and give us wing -
as millennial waters
beckon wide
and love's anchor
waiting to be cast
will the ghost of race
become the albatross
we shoot at our cost?
I'm here to navigate -
not flagellate
with a whip of the past
for is not each member
of the human race
a ship on two legs
charting life's tidal
rise and fall
as the ship
of the sun
unloads its light
and the ship
of night
its cargo of stars
again I say remember
the ship
in citizenship
and diversity
shall sound its trumpet
outside the bigot's wall
and citizenship shall be
a call
to kinship
that knows
no boundary
of skin
and the heart
offer its wide harbours
for Europe's new voyage
to begin