Monday, June 01, 2020

I will sit and listen


I will sit and listen
You do not need my words to speak your pain.
Who am I to commandeer
A place I have not been?
Who am I to appropriate
A path I have not walked?
Who am I to presume
To make this about me?

Your words are strong words
Etched deep by the acid of corroding grief,
Scored upon hearts and bodies
By wounds with too-long history.
Let me listen
Let me learn
Till I can earn the right to weep with you,
Acknowledging my privilege
Even as I claim equality
(A claim you have rights to scoff.)

Let me learn from your anger,
Born of too-long patience,
Needing a Samson
To topple down the pillars
Of all that imprisons you.
Show me where I take away your power.
And,
As I sit and learn,
Let us breathe together
The promises of justice.


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