MY PEOPLE
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]
My people are a people with creases in their face
My people are a shunned and despised race
My people have hands that are callused and worn
My people taste the first strokes upon
Their bronze backsides the moment they were born
My people are a restless and agitated sea
My people taught the first sciences to humanity
My people have a vacant and far away look in their eyes
My people long ago were expelled from paradise
From paradise lost to paradise regained?
My people can't even remember their name
Though there are traces of remembrance in the songs they sang
Of lost civilizations…
Greater than Atlantis
Greater than Lemuria
My people came from Kush before it was called Africa
My people mined and smelted immeasurable gold
My people were the ancient biblical 'men of old'
My people carried the Ark of the Covenant long before Moses was born
But now my people's hands are callused and worn
Some say that from the ashes we shall be reborn
Some say that like the sun in its glory
We shall rise again like the dawn
Some say when from the darkened pages of history
The thin light of hope is torn
Then you shall see my people rise…
Then you shall see my people rise…
YOU SHALL SEE MY PEOPLE RISE!
…RISE!!
My people are a people with creases in their face
My people are a shunned and despised race
My people have hands that are callused and worn
My people taste the first strokes upon
Their bronze backsides the moment they were born
My people are a restless and agitated sea
My people taught the first sciences to humanity
My people have a vacant and far away look in their eyes
My people long ago were expelled from paradise
From paradise lost to paradise regained?
My people can't even remember their name
Though there are traces of remembrance in the songs they sang
Of lost civilizations…
Greater than Atlantis
Greater than Lemuria
My people came from Kush before it was called Africa
My people mined and smelted immeasurable gold
My people were the ancient biblical 'men of old'
My people carried the Ark of the Covenant long before Moses was born
But now my people's hands are callused and worn
Some say that from the ashes we shall be reborn
Some say that like the sun in its glory
We shall rise again like the dawn
Some say when from the darkened pages of history
The thin light of hope is torn
Then you shall see my people rise…
Then you shall see my people rise…
YOU SHALL SEE MY PEOPLE RISE!
…RISE!!
2 comments:
great poem, it reminds me of Maya Angelou's "Like dirt I shall rise" Great work. Have you ever been to New Orleans?
Yes, Angeline...way back in 1978...me and my partner got arrested by a bunch of racist cops...for a minor traffic violation...but the jazz was good!...
-"obsidian!!!"
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