A Poem for Dreamers
You lean into my eyes and you see rivers
Old rivers that stagnate in the past
Their fingers touch floors of this world
And wrap around the Blackness of my skin
Muddy, long, wet rivers
Like my 'peoples' path
And they flow everywhere
In the deep brown scars in my eyes
You see how things used to be ...
Pyramids
And chains
And master mentality arrangements ...
Rigged hard like hot cotton fields
And you hope they never change
You see what you were told to see,
But, I, only wanted you to see me
Now I talk to rivers
And the rivers talk back to me
They linger like dreams
And spread their life to everywhere
Like my 'peoples'
Even on the shores of a defeatist society ...
Now I walk in deserts
Deserts of broken hopes and dreams
They seem to be everywhere ...
Black and White and blue ... - Yellow too
Now I see deserts of my people
But, I'm left wondering if ...
They truly see themselves?
As these old rivers, and truth, dry up to dust ....
So many rivers have flowed through us
In bright and lustrous hearts
Poets remind us of what we can still be,
Maya
Langston
Malcolm X and Martin too ...
And many new Poets flew ...
No, not like raisins dying in the sun
No, not like servants and lesser things
No, not like inferiors and doomed beings ...
But, like Captains and Presidents
Soon we'll be Saints and Saviors too ...
And all American heroes for you ...
Dreamers and cloud walkers
My 'peoples', my hopes
-- All walked inside the dream
They made dreams reality;
In the highlands and the low lands
The rivers flowed ...
In dark darkness and smooth light
Like my 'peoples'
Each one of them, will love you too ...
And someday, the rivers
Like my 'peoples'
Shall flow again
Great the vision and dreams
Wise the rivers flow ...
Many older Blacks incorrectly use the word 'peoples' as a substitute for people.
I was assisted by my 13 year old nephew Michael, who asks, won't this poem anger 'peoples'. My answer: its not a poem about angering people, its about truth!
Dedicated to Langston Hughes of Harlem.
The above text is copyright © ShyPoet1 ~ 2003,
and may not be reproduced without permission.
As for deleting anything...because it's "too angry"...Don't.
Such pieces are our growth stages and reflect on past eras...they show which way our individual paths led....and where from.
Thank you for sharing this gem, and continued success.
Sincerely,
Barbara J.Henry
Now I talk to rivers
And the rivers talk back to me
They linger like dreams
And spread their life to everywhere
Like my 'peoples'
Even on the shores of a defeatist society ...
so insightful and wise,
Reindeer
Cheers!
Deborah :o)))
the talent you possess)should not be...shy.
Carmen
in the course of history, meantime seek freedom
I loved this view:
"But, like Captains and Presidents
Soon we'll be Saints and Saviors too ...
And all American heroes for you ..."
Here is what I might have added before this verse ;)
No, not like glorified pimps & "G's" that rap
No, not like a big commercialized fad
No, not like good sports and entertainment
No, not like business America sells "Black"
I've been inspired. This poetry washes all of the ugly away and clears a path that has always been open but maybe cluttered or one didn't see it there before to take that direction. A refining purification. Showing something that is already there and many need something to put them back on track. This is it. Your words are amazingly strung with depth that rings in and out of every line and leaves a reader with many after thoughts. This is one of the best pieces I have ever read from you. So, for 13 Michael, you aren't bad at all! I think you might be breathing down your old uncle's neck ;) Talent must run in the family.
Very well composed with much dignity, class, intelligence and skill. Fine fine work!
Thank You,
Teresa Emilie Dybevik
In Spirit,
Bear
"Now I talk to rivers
And the rivers talk back to me
They linger like dreams
And spread their life to everywhere
Like my 'peoples'
Even on the shores of a defeatist society "