Dream
Achieve
Love
Inspire
Resurrect
Dream. I want to dream a better dream,
greater than what was given to me.
Achieve. I strive to achieve a life where
I will look back
and have no regrets.
A simple life of joy, peace, pride and rest.
Love. The inner child in me wants to love others in the same way
my Father up above loves me.
Yet, my heart secretly, earnestly, yearns for the kind of love that makes it skip a beat.
Inspire. I want to inspire the ones coming after me, the girl who harbors her own seed of hope, patiently waiting to grow.
Resurrect. I want to resurrect others’ dead dreams like how prophet Ezekiel resurrected the dry bones in the middle of the valley.
Tired. I tire of seeing my people in the streets, beaten down, torn down,
humanity ripped and stripped away,
with every crushing blow of the soldiers in blue
who swore to protect us,
defend us.
Really?
They actually never saw us.
saw us as people, saw us as worthy.
I don’t want to survive,
I just need to thrive.
But at home, we, in our own spaces,
we beat each other, not with metal batons,
but with daggers of vitriol,
rooted in colorism, featurism, tribalism
that proceed from our mouths.
We are all different
and yet one of the same.
We have been broken and remain whole
whether we eat jollof rice and fufu, jerk chicken, roti, or collard greens and candied yams,
Again, I assure you
we are one and the same.
Why don’t you like me for who I am?
Why won’t you love me for who I’m not?
Look. I look forward to the day where death
can finally die,
and life will surely live.
And when that day comes,
my Father, my Maker will say,
“Welcome home, My good and faithful servant,
Well done.”
Onye! Your poem is so special to me. I think the journey of how we got to this point, is when you presented. I am very proud of you! The stream of consciousness of this poem really allows me to enter your mind. All the things you desire, we can all relate to. Practical and yet so important for society.
Thank you Kelsey and yes I appreciate it! It’s like all the things I was thinking about all expressed in meaningful words. Thank you for your, Ms. Lauren’s and Jackie’s help!