Note: This is a poem I wrote for the New Year. - Lucy
It rained all day on Christmas Eve this year
The sun slanted in the morning
I rode around the burial ground, circling
The mud clung to my tires
A brown leaf stuck in the spokes, ssshhh
The bare trees’ branches rested like bones
The damp earth waits
Holding sorrow, holding promise
A week ago I sat on the stairs in a church in West Philly
All the seats were taken
500 converge to mourn, to raise voices, to turn pain into r/evolution
Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Brandon Tate-Brown, Eric Garner
Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Emmett Till
Didn’t they have dreams?
We utter their names as a prayer
Ghosts sit on the windowsill, watching
A street light streams through the stained glass
Illusion crumbles, myths exposed
The foundation cracks
What will we stand on?
Miles away a three year old girl dances on the subway platform
One by one the people join her, remembering who they are
That this is what we are born for
We will keep walking, marching, praying
Holding sorrow, holding promise
We will remember the casualties of fear
We will stand on love to disrupt all that shackles joy