Voices and Soul 12 January 2010

by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Tuesday's Chile, Poetry Editor

The time it takes to blink an eye is the time it takes to roll back the clock to segregated lunch counters and strange fruit hanging from the poplar tree. Time is truly, that fluid. How can we give up when there is still so much work to do and so many people in need? How can we give up on a whole region when that region is populated by those who have struggled so mightily? We just cannot give up, we just cannot turn our backs. We cannot stop when the struggle is only...

Midway

I've come this far to freedom and I won't turn back
I'm climbing to the highway from my old dirt track
       I'm coming and I'm going
       And I'm stretching and I'm growing
And I'll reap what I've been sowing or my skin's not black

I've prayed and slaved and waited and I've sung my song
You've bled me and you've starved me but I've still grown strong
       You've lashed me and you've treed me
       And you've everything but freed me
But in time you'll know you need me and it won't be long.

I've seen the daylight breaking high above the bough
I've found my destination and I've made my vow;
       so whether you abhor me
       Or deride me or ignore me
Mighty mountains loom before me and I won't stop now.

-- Naomi Long Madgett