Name Day

My birthday poem

This is my 36th year on this earth
The circumstances I was raised in counted against me
Being the color I bare
Stopped people from seeing the real me
I did not fall victim to the intercity cycle
Fought to free myself of the degrading stereotype

Battling every day to release myself
From the eight block radius of head nods and music videos
That people see when looking in my direction
Ignorance only judged and did not try to understanding
That every year as a teenager I was not supposed to make it
That was 17 years passed

I am a man grow now
With responsibilities of others
Children to remember me
To get mad at me when I have not been my best
To forgive me because of love
To guide in a specific course

God has bestowed one more year of life’s rotation upon me
I wake happy
Not taking anything for granted
Because this is my Name Day
With 13,149 days of wisdom and love
Waiting for 365 more

Reviews

[C. Rose]

Heartwarming :)

I was a bit disoriented by the "To get mad, To forgive, To guide" sequence. I'm all for repetition, but the subject/object are not the same in the last line. You switched from the children doing the verb, to you doing the verb to the children.

[Ivory]

I really loved how honest you are in this piece. And how at the end, you make us feel grateful for all we have been able to create in life. Beautifully written.