#preserverence

The image I see, of someone who looks exactly like me

Hanging so heavily from a tree.

The weight of his body bends the branches,

While the weight of this image bends my soul.

The smiles of the onlookers ever so large,

Digging the pit of despair so deep in my heart.

Do these people still feel this way,

Although such an atrocity is illegal today?

If given a chance would they do it again,

Would they take a life based on the color of skin?

I put the photo down, and I look in the mirror,

Trying to comprehend their hatred a bit clearer.

What about my people could have been so despised?

But through my worry and hopelessness, for a split second, I see a king in my eyes.

I see the perseverance of thousands of years,

And then I finally understand their fear.

The fear that my dark skin will rule again,

Destroying everything that they have invested in.

I now see their tactic…

When you fear something becoming great, you hang it,

You hang it with slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration,

Any of these things could keep down and destroy a nation.

Through it all, though, they expect our fall,

But rather than be hung by their efforts we stand tall.

Guys, I’m finally doing a deep clean of my bathtub.  I daily use a brush and cleanser for the floor of the tub before I use it in the morning, because my cat has had accidents in there before and I don’t want to be surprised. But without my glasses on, I couldn’t see how scummy it really was.  And I’m embarrassed to say it’s probably years worth of scum.

It’s taking a lot of hard work, a Scotts green scrub pad, baking soda/Ajax, and my stomach doesn’t appreciate the positions I’m putting it in as I contort myself to avoid actively kneeling on the floor.