"Crimson"
By Fiona Stawarz, Telling Room Author
The long blades of grass sway
As the wind roams.
Vibrant flowers begin to bloom
As the sun shows its face again.
The dark crimson bark of the tree
Protects the layers of tradition beneath.
It stands tall though weathered by many defeats.
Birds chirp unaware
That the blades who dance only by
Manipulation of the wind,
Will soon be cut short.
And the dark crimson bark
Will be taken down by man to be used for things
Of the meaningless sort
Just like the earth that used to be free
Of our feet, of our polluted ways, and concrete streets
We are an endangered species.
In danger, we have remained
Our thick manes and melanated skin
Are targets on our backs
We have been laughed at,
spat on, hunted, and abused
While the culture of our descendants has been
imitated as a muse
Do we deserve no respect?
We’ve been stepped on,
held down,
knee to the neck.
A negro falls in the concrete jungle
No one dares to stand witness
Do his pleas make a sound?
Or will they be met with indifference?
Like the ground beneath us we have remained resilient.
It seems as though we are screaming to deaf ears
And our tears will never be seen.
400 years of bondage from slavery to incarceration,
We continue to bleed
And you continue to praise to America
That was built by our calloused hands
And on stolen Indian lands.
Unlike our tears
Your corruption will not go unseen much longer.
Dear America,
The eruption has already started.
The institutions that hold our freedom
Are begging to fall.
All those you have wronged
Now stand together
Our roots are strong and deep
We are tethered
By your cruelties
Will you finally see?
Will you finally listen to our pleas?
Or will you turn a blind eye yet again?
Try and silence us with your insidious code
Try to sew our lips shut
We will still be heard
Our anger, fear, and sadness can lay dormant no more
For
The power we have is undeniable
And change is now inevitable
This piece is being re-published as a part of our new The Voice of a Pride series. Learn more about this series here.
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