For Years

   For years I kept a rod
   By my window, dreaming
   Of liberation day
   And the moment an eclipse of the sun
   Will rename the earth my song.
   It all started with Rodney King in LA
   And his plea of
   Why can't we all just get along?
   Looking back now, I knew I saw
   In his face a survivor's glow conjuring
   Biko
   Diallo
   Hector Pieterson & many brothers & sisters
   Gunned down or silenced in places unknown
   To leave holes in a century's imagination.
   But now that I've learned to wage wars
   With words, I figure my rod will only
   Do justice to my will, if I keep
   Exerting fury through letters in ink
   That crack bones and drive consciousness
   Into souls empty like a dry well.