I Too Dreamt of Snow (To the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean)

I too wished for a white white Christmas 

Dreamt of fresh cold air 

Longed for white purity 

I too was told what kinds 

Of dreams to dream.

I too was lied to

I too come from the shore

Lines of lives from the countryside 

Of temperatures forty degree 

I too was told how to dream.

I too learned history as passed down to me, a história of child labor, of black slavery. I too come from the shores of 

This side of history. Of semi arid cactuses

Of dire poverty, of sacks of beans, of corn fields, of sugary limbs, of saying thank God and Saint John for the rain on this earth, this is going to be a good year.

Just you wait and see.

I too went to bed at sunset

Woke up with the sound of wooden stoves

I too saw the snakes and the was chased 

By the goats, I too went to the city and played in the sand, by the coast, with the blue sky and ocean blue infinity, and still

Dreamt of snow falling, nay, prayed 

God, please be merciful, let me please see a bit of snow in my city this year.

Little did I know I would grow to hate snow.

I too was naive but wise enough to listen

to the Certainty of sunrise. Up at five down at five, yet I too come from the 

Language of the colonized. I too dreamt of snow on the beach as you dreamt of snow in the cane fields, in the cotton fields, in the banana republic, in the coffee fields, my friend, we are really alike though not quite the same. Still, we are in this world 

Called new.

I too had those contradictory dreams formed through the tongues I don’t speak. The English is not my first language and neither should be Portuguese. I was brought back to myself through you, my kin. And together we pray almost

As Fanon did 

“Oh my body oh my limbs may you remember what kinds of other dreams 

There can be.”