The Mind and the Eye

Poem regarding racial abuse

The Mind and the Eye

Among the cotton field we stood

Our heads held low

the fruits we reaped

in burlap sacks

The searing light upon our backs

one mile, two miles,

three miles we trekked

a road well tread beneath our feet

But a machine we are to him

The man with the switch

The one who beats and scars

our lingering hopes

of solitude

He knows not the boy or the man

the ones who watch

the ones who hide a universe

with silence

the ones who know the path

of empathy

A broken altercation of leather and skin

cannot put down the one of strength

but can only loosen the shackles

and set forth the mind

to see the light once more

But we know him

we see the human behind his fierce

A kiss for the daughter, a lap for the son

The quiver of a bloodstained fist

We quietly surrender

for what home is more splendid?

a singularity of rebellious intent

or a prison of involuntary destiny?

Yet as we sit bound and hungry

we wish not for sustenance

but for the hands of each other

for can we not see, feel, and speak in our corner of fateful reality?

Author's Note

What do you think?