..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />This poem was written several years ago...I believe it was when I was in college.
Phoenix
..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> by Paula Robinson
You can shackle me with the Constitution
But, you can't take away my freedom
Of spirit
Of intellect
Of love
Of being
I can rise above like the bird that soars o'er the clouds
You can chain me
To this state of "unmanness" through your Jim Crow laws
And your marches with men,
Like clowns covered up with sheets from head to toe
But, you can't take away my hopes for freedom
To live
To breathe
To be somebody
To learn and love
And still, like Phoenix I will rise above the ashes
Residues of this bonfire of hate you have created
I'll rise
Like the eagles
I'll rise
And soar above
The clouds
The sun
The earth
The heavens
I look down and smile
'Cause I can rise above the shackles and chains
You constructed with words of law
I'll rise
I rose
Now I'll have to rise no more