African Slave
Location
They say a flower will never bloom in the dark
A face that hides itself, colored, yet stark
They say a lost soul will never be found
A child in chains of slavery forever bound
They say a mirror sees everything within
Can it see the longing eternally therein?
They say an imagination can never be destroyed
Of the colored child whom all the pale avoid
But knock them down and down again
Shame them of their face, their features, their kin
Soon there won’t be enough left of them to rise again
A white man watches his plantation
His eyes are needles in deep concentration
A black man sees no one in sight
He bends and then sprints with all his might
He is the breath within and the guide to freedom
And doesn’t see the rope there to condemn
Tight around his neck in merely a moment
He’s leashed back like a dog refusing to relent
But knock them down and down again
Shame them of their face, their features, their kin
Soon there won’t be enough left of them to rise again
The blood, the blood, the gashing, flooding blood
The hand drenched in red and the banging and THUD!
A village in the dry, hot African sun
The smell of dirt, of air, of a nightmare undone
The soft dirt cascading down the hand
The sounds of children playing and a housewife’s demand
The friendly face of a mother staring you down
What are you doing there on the ground?
I was beaten down and down again
I was ashamed of my face, my features, my kin
There is nothing left for me to rise again