I am the beadsman, sold into profession, by an ounce of circumstance

Once a swimmer until my leg broke

Once a fisher, but the fish swam faster than me

I listened to the sun as it sank, on my youth, dissolving quickly, orange sugar behind veil

And wondered how it was, I felt nothing for everything

I am the beadsman, came by this life as a bird comes by worm, wriggling out as rain hits earth

Turning what was dark, into caramel storm, such is the road I began, and it forked, gently like an accident, leaving nothing to chance

My father inherited this blood, wasn’t born, wasn’t his way

Came as a religious man to Africa, made the beads his faith

This is the inheritance that sits for me on the thin branch

Watching the way I live my life until it is time

To take my place where he once sat

No bead is identical, even children know that

(2014).