I come from sunshine. Sunshine thick enough to form a blanket over tanned skin And African insects that bite to live, Empty stomachs and full hearts And dancing in the sand before the sunset. I come from winter. Where the drunkards freeze in streetways And there is hot stew for dinner And my grandmother is a young girl who loves the way the sky turns dark so early, And sugar sandwiches. I come from rain. The different personalities of the sky Whether Big Ben is spitting on you or weeping for you And the grey matches the bags under our eyes, Where everyone is always moving. Everyone has a place to go to. I come from love. Declarations too many years ago, and The way a story sets my stomach alight And holding a loved one in your arms Holding a pet in your arms And listening for the one verse where one phrase puts the planets back in orbit. I come from anger. Thrown against my own kind, Born for another, And internal screams that writhe beneath skin, And the injustice of the person that didn't win And a history blacker than the same skin it burned with no remorse, Righteous anger that was never right And a growing frustration at the living. I come from destruction. The sound that trees make when they break under the caress of steel teeth And the way that houses grow where forests died The pictures of animals that used to breathe And a pollution so thick it has turned my blood to sludge. I come from an hourglass And clocks, A repetitive countdown, A marathon or sponsored run And the last stretch. I come from blue. And green. And the black that means nothing, Space And a planet revolving Repeating. Revolving. Repeating. Revolve. Repeat. Then end.