Middle Passage
       

Praise the river and the ocean weeps red
Flowing to estuaries of nightmares
Rivers cleanse bodies while oceans hide them
The term freshwater empties them of guilt
Show me a bridge and I'll show you coffins
Which do you think tells Black stories better
I celebrate drowners more than divers
Because drowners will reach the bottom first
Forgive me, the black bodies did not drown
They were dead before touching the water
Slave ships would prefer never to look down
They dream winds filling their sails without blame
Beyond the mirror ripples and red waves
Black bodies in water form a Dead Sea

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Copyright © 2018 Len Lawson All rights reserved
from Before the Night Wakes You
Finishing Line Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission