With Eyes Stayed On The Prize...

CATEGORY

Out of you and me,

The colors of our skins

And our humanity,

Comes the scarred history

Of the home of the brave

And the land of the free;

Where it always was held true

That in you and by you—

And only for you—all men

[of your hue] were created equal.

Indeed.  Said the darker hued

Were merely aped to be manlike

That the icon of the new nation—

Slavery and the pursuit of happiness—

Could be perceived as that negative goodness

That only servitude and meek humility could bring.

What deed could be more gracious?

Snatching savage beasts from a darken land;

Cultivating them to be docile beasts of burdens

In a bright new world—Slavery—the common good!

But time is a funny thing.  When it passes,

It still leaves its footprints behind.  Dark hued

Ancestors are gone; but their audacity remains

Showing and leaving heirs what new tormentors

Will never ever see—what their eyes were watching.

What our ancestors saw, our eyes are now stayed upon.

Contrary to skewed belief, we too, were created

In the egg of life—laid free in history’s nest—incubated.

Now pecked free, we come laying our claim to the vision. 

Freedom is not a human gift.  With eyes stayed on the prize

We now come laying our claim to the liberating promise of God.