Higher Ground

 

Way to go! You’ve knocked me down.

That’s okay. There’s always higher ground.

You hate me because of something I can’t change.

You think my disposition is strange.

You think I’m suspicious because I’m minding my business.

When my life is my only witness.

The floodgates of heaven will have to open before I let you break me,

Because there is something you’re struggling to see.

You struggle to see that just like you, I bleed red.

You see a brown barrier instead.

You struggle to see the hate you give.

You want to see me be combative.

Go ahead. Turn my life into a show.

From within, you’ll see my faith glow.

I will stand against your hate with the word of God.

It makes it harder to shake me than you thought.

You refuse to see that I’m human too.

You refuse to see the good that I can and will do.

Put my black teenage life on my display,

Trust me, you’ll see the beauty God made.

Release the stigma against people who look like me.

What is it going to take to make you look past what you see?

You might as well say what you’re thinking.

Through your attitude, I can see the stereotypes that a race finds crippling.

You’re judging my future based on the past.

That mindset that you have can’t and will not last.

I will rise above the occasion,

I will rise over your biased assumption.

Watch me overcome the obstacles you put in my way.

You’ll see me be victorious at the end of the day.

You thought I was down and out, but watch me rise up honey,

On a concept you can’t seem to grasp, love that’s not discriminatory.

My nation, there is hope.

We won’t have to walk on a tightrope.

In this age of adversity,

There is something we all fail to see.

We fail to see that one day we have to answer to our creator,

And that day is coming sooner or later.

Take your shots, try to put me down,

You can try to kill the good I’ve done but you can’t touch my higher ground. 

This poem is about: 
Me
My community
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

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