USA

smoovecog@aol.com 

Assata’s Torch

~The following is the true story of a woman who bled 
for what she believed in~

they kept her bleeding
through changing seasons
handcuffed to hospital beds
she bled
arm numb
gone
torn
hung half dead

one lawman lay lifeless
and even though her wounds made it impossible
for her to have been the killer
they made her pay the price with
the priceless

they stole her whole world
played mind games with gun barrels
rounds of russian roulette
in the hands of the heartless
it all started
the day
the rednecks read 
her her rights casually
act of formality
"you have the right...
to die
get up!
don’t move! just lie
on the ground
don’t make a sound! talk!!
which way did they go?!
blow
your head
off
we ought to finish her off
you have the right to die
on this dirty jersey turnpike"

you have no rights
you have no rights

no rights left
she was left right
in the bowels of the beast
her aunt evelyn was her black steel
in chaos hour battling freedom thieves
dressed in legal briefs

confined
solitary
where sunshine is intangible
and animals commit crimes unimaginable
in the name of the law
battered by the blue

what would you do
if it was you?
stomach swollen
carrying love for cold months
traveling trough trimesters
in shackles
wrongfully accused
abused

what would you do
if the love was stolen from you
moments after birth?
what would you do
if they raided your womb
and left you segregated
from the seed your love created?

what would you do
if it was you?
"handcuffed by the haters
gagged by the greedy
locked by the lawless"

nubian princess
regal lioness
sister assata
they couldn’t silence
her growls
imprisoned within
the beast’s bowels
eternal flame untamed
poetic essence unnamed
panther princess
regal lioness

what if firemen
disguised as lawmen
came to extinguish
your flame eternal?
would you burn through?
what would you do?

sister assata dropped me a line
through rhyme
and told me we have a tradition
to carry on

sister carry on
brother carry on

she passed the torch
now we need to burn through
eternal
eternally carry on

to burn

burn
down
babylon  

© All Copyright, 2000, Marcus Kwame Anderson.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.