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Poetry

They

 

Azadeh Zohrabi
May 14, 2005
iranian.com

They say Souljahs don’t shed tears
And if not for the fallen comrades
And the souls depleting behind prison walls
It might be true
Our cries go unheard but the shots don’t miss us
And does anyone know the miles we’ve marched,
The boundaries we’ve broken
Or the unity achieved past divide and conquer tactics?
We just a people trying to get free
But we don’t even know what that means
Cuz brothas still don’t know that
They’re greater than these concrete streets
They become addicted to
And I can’t be the one to show them
Cuz I’m floating up high in my own atmosphere
And all I hear
Are tribal drumbeats that drown out the screams
And my view is clouded with smoke so all I see
Are pretty pictures on matrix wall that become
More and more hypnotizing
So hypnotizing that I don’t even realize
How fast time is ticking
Or that this room is shrinking
*While back on earth*
We sell our souls for platinum and gold
Cuz freedom’s too expensive for colored folks
While Russell Simmons tells us to
Rock the vote instead of REVOLT!
Easy for him to say he’s rich and I’m broke!
And people still call him a hero...
But my heroes --
Killed cowboys
And my heroes led rebellions
And my heroes set fire to their institutions
My heroes had the pigs shaking on their hooves
BUT
My heroes were all murdered by government bullets
Or sit in prison cells
So I guess that’s how I’m going out too
Dry your eyes and start taking their lives
Until we can stop struggling to survive
Stop shedding tears and go after the real crooks
No justice for us in their books
Eyes too tight to look
Swollen shut from tears shed
And the years can be read on face
Pumping fists kiss the wind in anger
And my heart pumps rage
I’m living in a calm chaos
Like life on a prison yard
Trying my best to stay strong
Cuz shits getting hard
And my people are asleep
Damn! Wake up can’t you see?
This ain’t the land of the free
And only some of us are brave
I just wish those brothas on the block
Would turn their guns the other way
Cuz if we take one of their lives
For every one of ours they’ve taken
The problem would nearly be solved
But as a people
We don’t love ourselves enough
To MAKE them stop killing us
And like a sadist I’m trying to inflict pain
To make you start saving us
So remember the trails of tears
Scars from whip tearing flesh
Sistas torn and half, lynched and gutted
With babies hanging out
Close your eyes and smell the stench of
Strange fruit hanging in the south
Who put you in the condition you in now?
How you gonna get out?
Not by begging for reform
There’s no begging in war
You were born a Souljah
Dark skins your uniform
So you can fight each other
Or you can fight them
But turning rivals into comrades
Is the only way we’ll win
So we should all wear the same flag
Link all the brothas
To bang on the system and
Ride for each other
Cuz we’ve been bruised too much
And lost too much
Since whitey found us
No room left for trust
It’s time to take back what they took
No justice for us in their books

-- December 2003
          

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