Poems

Poem 1

I am Martin Luther King Jr.
I wonder when there will be an end to discrimination
I hear the people’s songs
I see racism
I am Martin Luther King Jr.
I pretend the world is a good place
I feel nonviolence is the right way to fight
I touch the souls of many
I worry for my people
I cry for freedom
I am Martin Luther King Jr.
I understand brotherhood
I say we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools
I dream my children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by skin color
I try to make whites understand
I hope for peace
I am Martin Luther King Jr.


Poem 2

A bird swirls through the wind
and floats on down till the current ends
he dips his wing in the bright suns rays
while floating down through the rest of its days
The bird sings with a fearful thrill
of things unknown but wanted still
his song is heard at a distant hill
for the bird sings for freedom.
The bird thinks of another breeze
and the winds so soft through the quiet trees
and the worms waiting on a beautiful lawn
and he calls the sky his own.
But he stands on the grave of dreams
his shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings clipped and his feet tied
so he opens his beak to sing.
 
 
Poem 3
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later,
 the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of  discrimination
 the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity
 the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land
the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro
I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice, again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment,
 I have a dream
 I have a dream
 I have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed,"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
 one day every valley shall be exalted,
 every hill and mountain shall be made low,
 the rough places will be made plain,
 and the crooked places will be made straight,
 and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
  and all flesh shall see it together.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true
 Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
 Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
 But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
 Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
 Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi.
 From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Poem 4

You may write me down in history
With your sour, twisted lies,
But like air,
Like moons and like suns,
Just like the hopes jumping high,
I’ll rise.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
Up from a past that’s grown in pain
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Leaving behind nights of suffer and fear
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave
I rise.



Poem 5

I am Malcom X
I wonder about the future of my people
I hear their cries
I see their tears
I am segregated
I pretend everything will be okay
I feel the pain of discrimination
I touch the heart of my people
I worry we may never be free
I cry for my people
I am Malcom X
I understand that we are colored
I say we are all the same
I dream of complete equality
I try to bring us together
I hope for an integrated world
I am Malcom X

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