NEVER TO THE SKY

They opened their eyes
to the red hot sun
but never
to the blue sky.
Yodeling vehemently
the black music
passed down to their illiterate tongues:
"Let us break bread together on our knees;
Let us break bread together on our knees;
When I fall down on my knees
With my face to the rising sun
O Lord have mercy on me."
The air sang too
finding lyrics between
experienced, young,
new born and adult voices.
Their lost bodies
and innocent minds,
eyes fogged with perspiration
and bloody atrocities,
harvested in corn and indigo fileds.


Do you know why they looked up?
They searched for the
embryo of freedom
feticide by white folks.
They talked to birds
hovering above.
If they would share their wings
Or take them on a flight ?
Far far away...
Had unanswered questions
to the humanity...
Their coloured skin
were no less than
of packed animals,
as inside it dwelt
the bruises and burnt souls.
Hollowed too.
For they had no dreamscape.
But to go home.
Find home.
Meet their sold wives.
Meet their escaped husbands.
Embrace their brought kids.
Kiss the wrinkled foreheads
of their old and weak mothers.
Present few yellow flowers
to the headstone of their fathers
and ancestors all gone.
Whose blood is mixed with theirs
as they worked on the same
dark soil of plantation.
Unknown to tomorrow
or yesterday.
They knew today
was the same caged daylight.
Orphans,
of their own country.
With rivers of pain
running on their flesh.
Their breathe
held in chains.
In their sleep of few hours,
they longed for a secret death,
resting in peace with few yellow flowers.

No more the children of god
were they.
Bought and sold.
Sold and bought again.
Fluctuated prices: low and high,
traveled them from Virginia to Kentucky.
Fist fighting with survival.
They loved each others scars.
For they were the trophies
of their hard work,
unpaid endless works.
As if they were inanimate.
Born to serve the privileged race.
The four letter words
be it love or life
were meaningless to them.
The sweat on their face
sprinted to catch up the marathon
of out cries
hidden in their eyes.
Indeed they woke up to the sun
but never to sky.
Indeed they forever slept on the fields
but never rested in peace.
-Samiksha
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know it is long, may be too long this time. I hope this does some justice in pouring light how miserable was black slavery and racism in American soil and air.
#slavery #pod
@mirakee @writersnetwork @john_solomon
PC : to the rightful owner