Sacrifice

I worked the fields, day after day,

I laid the bricks til nightfall,

I died in those fields,

So you could command the skies,

Why are you still doing the work I've done?

I allowed them to call me nigger,

And kept who I was tucked away,

I took whips, had my skin split,

So you could show your face,

Why are you still doing the work I've done?

I look down from the edge of heaven,

And I weep at your surrender,

Your forgetfulness and broken will,

Look back long enough to push forward,

Remember the work I've done?

I sacrificed my hands, my back, my soul,

I built this country so you could claim it,

We built those homes, those roads,

We cleared the paths and laid the tracks,

Hoping our work would be your comfort.

Look up and take me in,

My journey is real and thick,

It yields great gifts,

And each is owed to you,

So why are you still...

I see you sleeping,

Your eyes are open,

But you don't see me,

Put the plow down,

And reach for the scroll. 

By Badilisho

http://ibwriting.blogspot.com/