A Better World is Possible, Ernest Volynec

 

 

 

 

Every night, as the star had risen

The thought of escape would cross

We divulged our truths and hearkened their lies

Over pain that would never leave and freedom that was lost

Inquiring of the Man Upstairs, we questioned “what did we do?”

Accustomed to torment, death had become lush

We wept in the mix of the commotion

Become silence, practice prayer, but never you fuss

They now cry tears of gas through lesions of incarceration

Where brilliance is attacking their might

In the backdrop stands an entity feigning duty imbued with silence

While Jims are being garnished, and crows soar through the night

Too black, too brown, too greasy and animalistic

A people are burning from a tattoo-like fire

One clause there creates a protest here

Oh look, Ferguson is winning but Plessy is tired

They claim peace where peace is absent

There will be change when separation says bye

Grieve, oh grieve, ungrateful supreme

For this world shall wither when black things die

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Tyshawn Khaalis Smithers · Virginia Commonwealth University

Khaalis Smithers is a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. This piece first appeared in Amendment.

About the Artist

Ernest Volynec 

“A Better World is Possible” first appeared in Persephone’s Daughters.