Rise Again by Damini Awoyiga

We have seen so much

We have seen hardships and overcome

Risen from pitch dark nights,

Nights raging like never-ending wars

That left the hope in our hearts, battered and torn

Broken and bruised, left unattended to

Silence, so deafening you could mistake it for calm

When darkness descended

So did strength and resilience

Only love, hope, and family could transcend

The suffering we faced

We have braved

stormy oceans and seas

We still hope and believe

there will be new horizons

We will rise again

We sprung from the footsteps of slaves

left along the sandy routes

We saw some fall,

Many more jump

Left along ship routes

Those who would never see the sun again,

Those who never bathed in seas again,

Bodies swallowed,

Engulfed by the ocean's depths

Souls given wings by Oshun,

To return them home

Those that saw the shores

Dry, brittle, and caked

Wind licking at trees like whips

Stuck in labyrinths of trauma and sorrow

It was as if their bodies knew

where they were headed

Knew that, in this land

Slavery, racism, and pain would be born

They took their slow, weary steps

And knew

They would rise again

We dreamed up revolutions

We harbored them in our souls

Until the center could no longer hold,

Till we could no longer “ just do what we were told ”

We Brought revolutions to life

Our internal revolts not televised

but hiding in the depths of our ambitious eyes

We lifted our tongues,

Each, a wave of our overlooked

And untold histories

Each pushing truths to the surface

Our stories, and experiences that couldn't be erased

Some made the voyage

Arriving from the motherland

On oceans of anticipation and dreams

Holding education and hope as keys

To unlock doors of opportunity in this society

We didn't fear the water when it came crashing down

We did not fear the rain when it tried to drown us

Because we ourselves are powerful hurricanes

Our voices became political and social movements

The beat of our hearts the soundtrack to BLM protests

Each like hot air on racism’s back

We are here, we are black,

We a testament to power livin’

This is just the beginning

We will rise again

Raging fires hidden the words that we speak

Silent and creping slowly

An eternity of equity we are yet to reach

Justice grew at the tips of our tongues

It fed a palette that craved freedom

Craved liberation

Free as the lines of free verse

Praying liberation would cut us lose

Praying that the chains that were eating us alive would be halted

We thought it could be stopped by freedom equity

Didn't know we would still be haunted

By the whisper of racism

When darkness descended

So did strength and resilience

Only love hope and family can transcend

The suffering we faced

We have braved

Stormy oceans and seas

We still hope and believe

There will be new horizons

We will rise again

Each time we take a step

It is a resistance and a protest

Each a fight for a black man we couldn’t protect

Each step leads us to the freedom and equity

We wish to posses

Contrasting treatments

Once young healthy skin

Turned bruised hardened flesh

Changed by the burdens of society

Working as hard

As hard can get

They say the body never forgets

Smiling through our teeth

Masking frustrations

Just enough to get the job done

Then suffer silently

All the while blood boiling

spewing the suffering

and sorrow hid up in our bones

Brimming with generations of pain

Desensitization, opening the door for oppression

Desensitization pulling at unhealed wounds

Redemption is ever alive in our bones

Our bodies might have been owned and marred

but there is no grip on our souls

We seek justice, it’s time to forgo fear

Enough to racial prejudice,

Enough to white supremacy,

Enough to the pictures, they painted us to see

Our time will come

The pens will be ours

Each thought will be written

Each abundant dream

For sure we need each other

To lighten our loads

So that burdens become

Weightless feathers of peace

We will heal this racism with the help of one another

We were born to lead this society

Into an era of love and freedom

As one we will brush the chains

Of white supremacy, racism and hate away

When darkness descended

So did strength and resilience

Only love, hope, and family could transcend

The suffering we faced

We have braved

stormy oceans and seas

We still hope and believe

That there will be new horizons

Our hopes will rise again