this poem i wrote on MArtin Luther King JR. day
once i stopped striving to write something "relevant" to the day
I finally penned my heart...

Oh Richmond
For you i am writing this proclamation
To you i am making this declaration
OH Ancient City
That holds the history
The beginning of a nation
of a people
of a country
Yet also holds the memories
Of an atrocisty
the beginning of slavery
Forever captured
in eternity
upon your streets
upon your memory
the dichotomy
penned into your history
as Thomas Jefferson wrote
the Statute of Virginia Religios Freedom
on 18th and MAin St
yet the first slave auction
placed right across the street
OH Land
that has been enculturated with seeds of hate
hiding behind religious masquerades
Oh town of oLd
Where wars have been fought
for the very freedoms we enjoy today
that you didnot give up freeliy
nor to easily
Yes we have progressed as a people in this nation
Yet, oh city , as i gaze upon you there is a situation
A proverb, a wisdom of old that rings in my spirit
And how i will press on , unitl all the streets echo and hear it
For there are yet more freedoms caught up in your very streets
Calling me to here and now
i dare not leave
See i dont want to go back to Africa on the next boat
or to some land far away and remote
For i am called to here and now
Oh Richmond,
I will stand on your hilltops
And in high places
Crying out for a freedom
to start here that Will shake a whole nation
SO town of our forefathers,
I hope you understand
the key that you hold in your hand
for if anything is going to change in our nation
IT must STart here
In this generation
So i am praying for you to release
The key to freedom in our mentality's
for it is on your soil where they first stripped our psyche's
I cry for freedom from religiosity
to rise above the idols we've created of God
in our culture
and in this land
OH Beautiful city
I will vie for you
OH my people
I will war for you
MY life spilt for this mission
Is the high calling of the One who has given me this vision
So this will be my passion
My bread to do the will of the One, who sent me today
To place a seed of hope in your spirit .
For Richmond,
your freedom , our freedom, consumes me
as i tearfully ask God could this ever be ?
dont let me die
with this city , our nation
yet in this situation
so i will go , and then pass this vision on to the next generation
For city
I will stand on your walls
And sound the trumpet
CRYING ASSEMBLE THE PEoPLe
The TimE is HERE
and The PLace in now
OH city of old
oh RIchmONd