Hands High
Just when you think we're getting past it...
We're going right back at it
Like a nightmare that you thought was gone
It reappears like it was magic
Is this travesty an act of a miscarriage of justice
Or just a knee-jerk reaction to distrust
A system never meant to protect us?
It's us against them...
But is it "us" or is it "them"?!
'Cause sometimes I'm Trayvon...
Sometimes I'm Mike...
Sometimes I'm Zimmerman...
Sometimes I'm Wilson...
At times I'm Malvo
Ducked low in a blue Chevy Caprice
Manipulated by my own kind
To go a pick up a piece
Our peace of mind is assailed
In a hail of bullets
Another young one in ground
Never knowing life to the fullest
And foolspeak that follows
In the aftermath of a disaster -
How exactly should a native son
Get over the fact
That he's being treated
Like a b*st*rd?
They tell me that my views
Are from another time and place
Yet I'm the same color...
In the same country...
And it's still all about race
And unless the Lord's grace intervenes
We'll never make it to the finish
Of a long-running history
That never seems to diminish
Remember: the anger of men
Will never produce godly righteousness
But the righteousness of Christ
Is the only reason I fight for this -
Liberty and justice
From a corruptness
That has plagued us
In his absence;
From rulers that wield the sword in vain
To the masses that give way to the malice
He drank from wrath's chalice
And took on the sins of Adam
So those who bear the mark of Cain
Can one day enter the heavenly palace
A King's dream finally realized
"One Nation Under God" reimagined
Guns down and hands high
As the final enemy is moving backwards
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Submitted on January 16, 2016
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 2 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABXCDC EEBXFF GHXH XXXDXI FXXA XJIKJ XLKL XCXMCCCXNC MXNC XAGX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,575 |
Words | 302 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 6, 4, 6, 4, 5, 4, 10, 4, 4 |
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"Hands High" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/72943/hands-high>.
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