Written piece
BREAD ACROSS OCEANS
Kirabo Winfred.Joy
Uganda
About this piece
An original poem celebrating Commonwealth bread traditions across 56 nations. From Kampala's chapatis to South Africa's bap, India's naan, Australia's damper and the British scones, it threads breakfast and dinner tables together from dawn till dusk.
BREAD ACROSS OCEANS
By Kirabo Winfred Joy
From the Nile’s ancient waters
to Zambezi’s thundering falls,
Chapatis flatten on griddles,
grace breakfast plates and dinner tables.
From Kampala’s streets at dawn,
where chapatis rise and wrap,
warm in a Rolex.
From Table Mountain’s table-top heights
to Cape of Good Hope’s shore,
Where Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean,
bap bakes on the braai fire’s roar,
Roosterkoek crackles on the grill,
golden, warm as hospitality,
Binding strangers who gather in community.
From Himalayan peaks
Where snow-capped mornings break,
To Ganges’ sacred waters
where curry spices wake,
Naan rises soft in tandoor’s heat,
thread by thread,
Broken for the family,
shared with spiced curries,
morning feast, bread spread.
From Great Barrier Reef’s turquoise waters below,
To Uluru’s red spine
where ancient stories grow,
Damper baked in campfire coals,
binding travelers on the road,
Glazed with golden syrup,
the Australian soul,
shared as one we load.
From the rugged Blue Mountains’ mist
where coffee scents ascend,
To the Caribbean waves
where generations bend,
Fried dumplings sizzle,
golden and round,
linking families strong,
Tickling palates with comfort found,
where we all belong.
From Thames through London’s heart
to Scottish Highlands steep,
Where knife-edged valleys
hold the clouds that ever weep,
Crumpets toast golden,
stitching generations through the years,
Scones rise with perfection’s seal,
through laughter and through tears,
English muffins warm
with evening tea and laughter real,
shared by all who hear.
Across five oceans,
fifty-six nations, from dawn till dusk we spread,
Bread from morning meal
to evening table,
breaking bread for all we’ve heard.
From grain to flame to fellowship,
the Commonwealth is bound,
In every loaf, every crumb,
in breaking bread, we are found.
Our thread is bread,
our thread is love,
across the waters bound.