To Hottentot Venus

From the womb of the Gamtoos my body came to life I was a prayer answered to a Khoisan man and wife One with my people I was a happy child Then to serve the white man I had to leave the wild Fooled by empty promises I sailed across the ocean Lost in a strange land, overwhelmed by emotion Stripped of my humanity I live inside a cage Treated like an animal performing on a stage Looking and staring at my body half naked Exposed in the cold it was no longer sacred Icey glass eyes with the look of disgust Some of those eyes had the look of lust As a stream of tears trickled down my face It reminded me of that all to familiar place My footprints once lay on the bank of that river As I reminisced my feet began to shiver I dreamed of freedom and of sunny days And of my people and their simple ways Greedly my sorrow ate away my heart Destroying my will to live I began to fall apart Then all too rapidly my soul began to age Finally my life's book had reached its last page Still I could not find peace when my body had no breathe For they were violating me even after my death Then 200 years later my bones had been restored My soul was free to roam with my poeple once more. Note: This is my contribution to Woman's Day. This poem is about Sara Baartman. I was inspired to write this when a saw a picture of the her face that was reconstructed from her skull. I have never seen such sad eyes in my life.