180000
4
Having origins
In the worst of circumstance
Making the best of the conditions
Gradually making progress, even while under duress
On the table which was prepared for us
…for the occasion
We were …the answers…
For a world …which would be the test
That we would be prepared
For some unimaginable future
Where society would be shaken
Our bodies would be taken
A voyage undertaken
Those who sought us ill
How many who died,
Cast into the stormy seas
Denied their contribution
To the enemy
Yes this was a war
Their heroic deeds
Made posthumously
Even when those
Who continued to resist
Were punished grievously
All was not well… for those
Having a destiny to fulfill
Unaware the Creator
Had more in store for us
For those who are chosen
Have destiny to face alone
Yet how long would this be
Separated from tribe and family
Past differences were dismissed
For to defeat this new enemy
Required a different strategy
Made unity a must
New languages were made
Bits and pieces of several
Tongues were combined
People tied collectively
In suffering, wept bitterly
Although a rich heritage
Filled the people
Those who would rule
Sought to erase
The continuity
A history of
Black people
Their gift
Replaced with
In essence …a life of
Indentured servitude
Dealt with cruelty
Forbidden to be
Taught to read and write
As if hidden knowledge
Would displace
Quiet wisdom
Of inquiring minds
People overcame barriers
Yet untold in the books
Of what history was
Part of this new
Community of souls
Whose truth was told
In tears and blood
To sweat and toil
Pain and death
Distilled of this
Experience
Came such
A love
As it was
In this
Modern day
Practically
Unheard of
Your children
Trusted to
The care of
Those who
You’d deprived
Those who rebelled
Did not long survive
Although, someday
Everybody knew
This would be
Reversed
So the
People
Prayed in
Whatever way they could
Worked hard in the hot sun
Sang spirituals to pass the word
That which was of necessity
For us to be ensured
A measure of times
That we would tested
Hardened to the coming storm
Suffering in sadness as those
Whose utter disgust they swore
Would last forever, to protest
The induced indignity inflicted
Yet could not break the spirit
Of this new community of people
Suspended in space+time
After being displaced from
The country of their birth
After a terrible uncivil war
Newly emerged people
Shock and awed awake
What was this illusion
Was this sort of being
Half asleep, half awake
Half+freedom, dumped
Unceremoniously
In the streets
Profound
Homelessly
All the while being
Caught up in the wake
Of people defeated,
Still filled with hate
…deplored…
Despised by those
Whose labors enriched
Those who they provided
…removed from the stability
Of a society they’d known
And by whose skills had grown
Accused now of being thieves,
Murderers and rapists, lazy…
Sow the fields and pick the produce
In the hot sun …really, what absurdity
By those whose raping ways were legendary
Those stolen in the former days by those
Who created broken families of people
Sold like cattle …for a life to be determined
By the whim and fancy of commercial utility
Now free to do what they could do
Half imprisoned for disobedience
The other half ignored,
Half treated with suspicion
Still another half destroyed
We’d come full circle, spinning in the wind
From slaves to presidents…
Some ask, how about now
What’s keeping you people down
You’re pulling each other down
From one with skin like bronze
And hair, like wool
Once hung from a cross
Or hung from the same tree
From which the cross was made
Casting shade on me and mine
You must think
You’ve got it
…made…
C2
