DARK ANGELS

With the election of Barack Obama black people witnessed what many considered the attainment of an impossible quest. How many of us realized the burden now being placed upon us all?

Once invisible, like silt on the bottom

trampled, spat upon, pissed on
and pissed off to be told it was rain
but knowing a place, even digging in
we now fall from grace, dark angels.

Dark angels we are no more the chaff
but now the wheat, a hearty staple
to make things 'do what they do'
as we said we would if we only could.
We could and did, can and must!
Now is the time to find and give relief
to a pressure cooker holding on
to a dream deferred.
A dream handed down from a mountaintop
A dream of content and character, and judgment, too.
Yes dark angels, yes you people, darker than blue
Once invisible your head is held high
as mine in this moment - for a moment
but a question looms large, its answer, great.
Are we now a beacon, or a target?
And does it take four years to know?
What will we do, dark angels?

Reviews

[just rose.]

A bold statement and important questions. I like the echoes of Langston Hughes - a connection to both past and possibilities. Excellent!