“When freemen shall stand” is a day

Far away, a day strived for but

Missed, distant from us, fleeting.

Freedom is not a tangible thing:

It cannot be touched, nor held, nor

Tasted. It slips through one’s fingers,

Seeps into one’s bones, tears at

Our soul. We are

The home of the brave, of the souls

Who fight everyday—

For this equality we have been so promised,

The release from oppression, from

The cycle we are forced into.

The land of the free, we are not,

Held back every day by

Those above us, those who have the power, who

Make every day for people like me a struggle, a

War.

Freedom is nudged forward. We are nudged backwards. The gap increases.

In God is our trust,

In God, we believe everything

Will work out, will come to fruition, but

In this trust, we allow ourselves to sit back passively, to become

Victims to what we are too afraid to fight.