When 1. day comes we ask ourselves,
1. the rising of morning, another day of survival
where can we find 2. light in this never-ending shade?
2.shade as in reference to a looming cloud of darkness for being black in America, where or who do we find solace in our unknown encounters
The 3. loss we carry,
3. A spiritual burden of our ancestor’s struggle, and countless lives lost due to the color of our skin
a 4. sea we must wade
4.finding comfortability in a vast atmospheric abundance of stirring and jarring
5. We've braved the belly of the beast
5. a direct reference to hate (beast)
We have learned that 6. quiet is not always peace
6.a direct reference to Dr. MLK’s nonviolent peaceful protest, that gave prudence to Malcom X’s movement with a louder reactionary violent approach
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn't always just-ice
And yet 7.the dawn is ours
7.another reference to morning, yet dawn is specific to a new beginning, a new day
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
8.Somehow, we have weathered and witnessed
8.a continue to fight, a pledge to our ancestors to never give up, even through tragedy
a 9. nation that is not broken
9.a positive outlook of the United States that is maybe dysfunctional but not broken
but 10. simply unfinished
10. another reference to the continued perseverance of our ancestors’ plight and/or the continued business of racial equality and justice for all
11. We the successors of a country and a time
11. We all are inheritors of this country and what we complete with our time on this planet is a segue for the generations to follow
Where a 12. skinny Black girl
12.a direct reference to her lack of physical strength, but mightiness in her actions and words
descended from slaves and 13. raised by a single mother
13.being raised by single black mother is such a strain on the household, often ostracized and discriminated with unfair parallel to poverty, crime, pre-marital conception, and an absentee father, the sheer ability to survive these conditions is alone a miracle
can 14. dream of becoming president
14. a direct connotation to the representation of President Barak Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris
only to find herself 15. reciting for one
15. A young African American female made it through her difficult journey being raised by a single mother, completing her bachelor’s degree at Harvard, in addition to being selected as the first every Youth Poet Laureate to recite a poem at presidential inauguration which includes the first ever African American/Asian American Vice president reflects the growth and strides of the United States.
And yes 16. we are far from polished
16.this is a direct reference of the African American community’s self-sabotage and/or a country that needs a tremendous healing
far from 17. pristine
17. the filthy scar of the domestic terrorism that took place the Capitol prior to the inauguration or again, the African American community bearing responsibility for our inability to congeal and move into a synchronous direction of growth and prosperity for all
but that does not mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a 18. union with purpose
18. a generational movement and upheaval or act of erasing racial, socioeconomic, gender, sexual, and other inequities with a consensus agreement or purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so, 19. we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
19. this is a direct correlation to unify as a country based on what he have in common; the abundant need for love, comfort, shelter, fairness, etc.
but what 20. stands before us
20. actively identifying the responsibility that we all should covet to forge layers of equality for all and the generations to come
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our 21. differences aside
21.I correlate this to the immediate needs for our political tiffs to be left behind for the betterment of our nation, and that we are stripped of our cultural differences and beliefs, for even a moment, we are all humans at the bare minimal
We lay 22. down our arms
22. set aside your defensive stance and imminent ability to strike to embrace one another and listen
so, we can 22. reach out our arms
to one another
We 23. seek harm to none and harmony for all
23. I immediately thought of this line written by Langston Hughes’s “Negroes sweet and docile, Meek, humble, and kind”, it is a reminder that we (which could be African American or anyone), that we all generally come in peace and as my mother would say “keep the peace”