Yes
I will
I shall start a fire, yes I will. I shall start a
fire so huge that rabbits and squirrels will run out their burrows. I will
scorch the established grass and pluck down the ripening fruits of hatred. I shall start a fire so huge that its crackle
shall be heard from miles away, and its heat shall singe the hair on the brows
of imperialists my fire shall be so huge that even their thunderous rains
cannot put it out. I shall stoke it, I shall add logs of wood. It shall burn
through the thick ice of racism and injustice. I shall seek the grasshoppers,
the snakes and the flies, and drop them deep in the heart of red, yellow and
purple. I shall weed out the Bidens and the marigold and watch while their
smoke rises up in the skies. I shall choose not between the old fruits and the
young. I shall burn them all. I shall pluck out the foundations lain by the
fathers, foundations of pungent decay and falsehood and hurl them into the
inferno. I shan’t stop till the crawling people walk, I shall not stop there
till they all take to the sky. I will shout and scream till the manacles are thrown
off their feet. I will shout till they are let out to soak in the sun, to
squint at the horizon when it turns yellow. I shall stand for and by the
farmers and make sure they harvest the fruits they planted. All musicians,
bring out your lyres, all men and women, gird your loins and tie your sandals.
If I was Moses I would say let my people go, but where to go should they yet
they know no other home? I shall take my mattock and chip away at the mountains
of inequalities and false judgement. I shall pray, I shall hope that my
children will travel around the world without fear of being shot at just
because they are darker in colour. I shall not run, I shall stand my ground. I
will fear not the baton, I will fear not the water canons. I shall stand not in
front of the judgement throne, too ashamed to lift my face, too embarrassed to
look into the eyes of my brothers they shot. I shall walk, I shall run, I shall
climb the mountains and traverse the valleys. To rest not I shall, till my fire
burns all maladies and viruses anchored deep in the system. I shall rest not
until the vast acres of unsedated injustices turn brown and barren. I shall
stand watch until everything grows over again. I shall let freedom grow where
slavery had once dug its roots deep. We shall celebrate not the death of
slavery but the birth of freedom. I shall watch equality grow right at the foot
of the charred stump of racism. We shall eat and drink not on the collapse of
injustices but the rise of correct justice. I shall start that fire, and watch
its tongue lick it all, I shall start that fire, not for me, but for my
brothers, sisters and children. I shall carry with me the scales of justice and
preside as the cloud of fear and suspicion is replaced with that of courage and
optimism. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
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