Breaking Away

We had to break away

From our country of birth

People called us cowards

To live with the rapes murders

And the certainty of the cruelty

And the expectations of violence never

Ever ending

On the surface it was serene and tranquil

Not caring that people of a different

Color were suffering

Living like animals

In their cold tiny shacks

Working as servants relentlessly

Till their hands were raw

And their feet blistered and throbbing

The food was inferior

The salary minimal

Treated so atrociously

They were people

With beating hearts

But just living in a skin

Of a different color

Of having had the misfortune

To be born black was a certainty

That they were treated like creatures

Of a different breed

Trapped like hunted animals

The pretense was great

If we didn’t see it – it wasn’t there

Humanity is sick

We need to wake up

Color is for painting

Drawing and the like

Color is for sunshine

The sun and the sea

The greenery of nature

Not for the hatred

Of different people

Whose exterior is different?

This magnificent country

Was destroyed by gluttony

Both the concrete

And the intangible