And I Dance

I am an African woman who speaks Arabic softened by the

valleys 

and mountains of 

Nubian, Coptic, and Kemetian. 

Listen:
Cue Hanina by Mohamed Mounir 

My ancestors danced across space and time. 

I am an afro arab child of the stars. I am expansive as all the heavens. 

Qawaqib were named after me.   

Look into my eyes and see Altair, Pleiades

Do you see the map home?

Sitting at the feet of my ancestors, in awe of all that was and all that is to be, I know my worth. 

I am african and arab. I come from Ma’at and Mariam. I am ascendent. 

My sister! Our ancestors were wondrous and created humanity as we know it and in ways we can’t comprehend, yet.

Listen:
masr il dunya مصر .. أم الدني 

Settle that into your bones.
Egypt is the mother of the world.

Guided by the heavens, 

in delicious alliance with the cosmos  

our ancestors birthed so much of our earthly understanding of the world. 

They voyaged           across              oceans         long.        before         the european ships came. 

Our ancestors lived on the imagined borders of the Sahara as they rode horses over dunes. 

Sang songs to the winds that carried their prayers on the Nile. 

Danced with sand between their toes

Touched their foreheads to the fertile soil of the delta. 

Listen: 

Cue Musicians of the Nile Latcho Drom Egypt clip

We are all this and more. 

No one can take our proud, fierce african legacy away from us. 

No arab nationalist,

no colonizer, 

no hotep 

can take this legacy away from us. 

It is us.
I look at those of you who are threatened by our liberation and flash the 3ayn on you. I no longer give my power to you. I keep it all for myself because it is mine. 

And I rise. 

And I rise.

We rise.

You don’t know me. Don’t you know I am everything?
I am the entire galaxy in a drop.
My copper brown skin, the greatest gift of the Egyptian sun, is molten and luscious. 

Fuck with me and you will burn.

My ancestors knew no division between North Africa and the rest of the continent. I am healing that wound with each prayer, each moment I invoke the music of my people that tell stories of voyages across worlds in community and collaboration. 

I am a mother. I am the mother of the world. I am Egypt.
I am not binary.
I am multitudes. 

I am freedom fighter. 

I am black.
I am black.
I am arab.
I am Nubian. 

Listen: 

Cue: Bow by Sault 

I am no longer betraying myself and the people I come from. I honor myself
I honor my blackness
I honor the multitudes of who I am 

My heart bursts as I write this. 

My short life explodes at the thought of even beginning to match a drop of the legacy my peoples have left for me. 

In the practice of being beyond space and time

I finally understand 

that my life is not scarce

that my life is infinite. 

Don’t you dare lose yourself, beautiful. 

Everywhere I look I find you:

Isis holding the newborn Horus in her arms.
The constellations first named with the tongues of your people. 

Listen:

Cue Um Kalsoum Alf Leila Wa Leila 

Food as medicine.
Malachite and Lapis.
Majestic tombs dedicated to life after Earth. 

Infinity. 

Your majesty is in my bones, ancestors. 

I bow in deep gratitude at your feet. 

I promise to never forget this. 

You are my reason. 

I look to you with every breath. 

You are my memory and my future. 

When I stop and listen, I remember.   

And I dance.  

The world has been ending and beginning, ending and beginning. 

Beginning and ending. 

Across centuries.                                       Across time and space. 

We survived. 

Each and every one of us is a testament to this survival. 

Don’t you forget this, beautiful. 

Across galaxies, stars burst and spawn their seed into worlds and worlds beyond our imagination. 

I am ready.   

And I dance.