Africa

I read
the other day
that scientists
had traced back
all humanity
to one common
ancestor--
a man
in Africa
60,000 years ago

Think of
the implications
of that
for a moment--
how many
millennia of thinking
that single fact
destroys

With this one fact,
the globe itself is
remade--
no more
American
Russian
German
Frenchmen
Englishmen
Chinese
Japanese
Iraqi
Iranian
Israeli

No more
Europe
or Asia
or Middle East

No more
Jew
or Gentile
In fact,
no more race

With this one
single fact
we have to confront
the beautiful reality
that has always stared us
straight in the face--
we are family,
a single tree
with many branches

So now,
tell me--
who amongst you
puts country
before family?
Who amongst you
even puts ethnicity
before family?
How can we even
speak of such things
any longer?
Draw a line
between yourself
and your brother,
your sister?
Then call them "other?"
no longer can we
afford such ignorance,
not with our father
staring us in the face
every time we look
into another's eyes
and Mother Africa
running through
our veins