Held | Cheryl Okuthe

December 13, 2022

Luther Konadu, Figure as Index, 2019, inkjet print | image: courtesy of the artist

Held

One hand to another
intertwines a reflection –
each generation
frames faces unseen
as the ridges in the fingers trace the past
so singularly, uniform, held
within a bond lost –
erased in repeated ways
we held each other
hand in hand.

Vision obscures as you reflect me
reflecting the past and the future
separate and forever.

What is a story but
imprints of lives lived –
a story foretold?

Each frame is cherished and carried
within each other’s palm – the vibrant colour
of what was
fades to the dream
unknown, grayscale future –

a moment in time that repeated itself throughout our blood. All the things left unseen and yet forgotten were passed through the frame of history. A father to a son and repeated through time – the absence of what was unsaid left to linger on the unfocused edges of life. It was here on these palms where hands were held, food was passed, and lies spun from son to father and back. The greying memories of the future washed out the colours of yesterday

in you I see myself. As I see those reflected in our experience, they remain faceless – those we influence we cannot be concerned to recall their names, faces, and eyes wandering off-screen. The dents and folds reflect the need to preserve the essence of us – our world – something only we can define and understand. Your hand in mine and ours on the future.

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Cheryl Okuthe is an Afro-Canadian writer. She received her Bachelor of Law from the University of Cape Town and is an Osgoode Hall Law School alumnus. A member of the African Diaspora, she has worked to cultivate her literary work and to infuse it with her cultural influence and contemporary commentary.