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How long

philip lacey 1956 (United Kingdom)

Born black a tin shack is home to you now
Your brothers and sisters will feed you somehow
Work down the mines it’s the most you’ll achieve
If you survive all the hardships the squalor and disease

How long must we keep up this fight?
Crying out for human rights
How long how long

Imprisoned or murdered for speaking the truth
You’re charged with the crime no need for the proof
The papers are censored from printing the facts
No cameras allowed to film attacks on the blacks

How long must we keep up this fight?
Crying out for human rights
How long how long

A cancer-riddled growth resides
In this world that should be ostracised
But how long how long

How long must people suffer this plight?
Suppressing their freedom denying their human rights
How long must we have this contention?
When will this world be free of racial tension?
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Submitted by musopa on May 09, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
1

Quick analysis:

Scheme aaxx BCD xxxx BCD xbd bcee
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 817
Words 151
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4
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    "How long" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/99476/how-long>.

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