Little Brothers

Little Brothers

    for Tamir Rice

The softness
of your face,
warm as the sun’s rays,
The richness
of your brown eyes,
full of laughter,
Live on,
little brother,
in my heart.

The cowards who murdered you
will pay dearly
but that truth is not a salve
on the bleeding wound
of this world.

We will put their masters
to the flame.

Little brother,
I do not speak to you
but to our little brothers
and sisters who live on
We will do better, we will grow stronger,
smarter, more fierce
as we bleed this society,
vanquishing the complacency
of those who thrive
off the genocide
of your people,
little brother
And know, sisters, brothers,
that we are finding
one another
Be fearless —
what we have to lose is only misery!
Do not allow
the cowards to speak for you.

Quiet
and stillness
are among our greatest weapons.
Reach
deep into the earth,
intimate roots toiling through the soil.
History
is but a day
And the future
but a moment
And death itself
trembles
when we shed all fear
As when your eyes
burn through the night
to pierce my eyelids
And I know,
little brother,
that you are not lost
And I see your face
in every flickering flame
that lights up the darkness
of a world bound to vanish.

Tears
come unbidden
at the sound of children, playing,
children who are born into a society
that means only to maim them
as commodities
as oppressors and oppressed

Tears
soaked into sweat-stained bandannas
smoke thick in the air
and all the world cracked open,
our hearts pounding in unified knowing
that we have found our footing
and anything is possible.

 

(originally published in the NYC ABC newsletter)