Come O, My Brother

(Today, the 21^st day of March is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This poem is about this subject.)

Come O, my brother,

Come we sit under the tree of justice

Come we sit under the tree defoliated of prejudices

Come O, my brother

There was once a time, my brother,

Long time past in the age of our grandfathers

When the scorching sun dried this tree

Men never enjoyed this shadow

There was a time, my brother,

When this tree was accursed

Cursed to mediocrity, cursed to low heights

Sad times were those

There was a time, my brother,

When this tree was once uprooted

Severed from the forest

Because it was not “tree enough”

This tree, my brother,

Knows the loneliness without a forest

This tree is a plant of man’s past

This tree is the hope of man

So come O, my brother

Come we sit under this tree of justice

Come we sit under its shadow

Come we let our breaths sync

Why not, brother?

This tree is a mausoleum

Sad lessons are decorated;

T’was watered by blood

These leaves are tomb flowers

If you look hard enough, the bark

Is a paint of deferred dreams

This tree grows in no particular soil

It can pitch its roots in the Atlantic

Or clamp it in Sahara

This tree, my brother, is Time

It is in the lips of Martin Luther

It is in the lips of the Xhosa

So come O, brother

Let us escape the sun

To cool our frazzled nerves

After all, this tree is our bequest.

                                  [Image from dailyhurricane.com]

C) Lorot Salem 2011