America Found

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

America Found (the Awakening)

 

We have lost our way before

We are not a perfect nation

We regarded the protectors of the land

As something less than human

As beasts to be exterminated

Or tamed and put in cages

It took centuries to awaken

To know the error of our ways

But we have awakened

To set forth a better day

 

We enslaved generations of blacks

We denied their basic humanity

We put them in chains

When they demanded their freedom

We hunted them down like rabid dogs

We whipped and hobbled them

We killed and raped them

It took centuries to awaken

To accept the truth that we betrayed

But we have awakened

To a more enlightened way

 

We have fought unprovoked wars

Unjust wars of mass destruction

We have followed poor leaders

We have embraced corporate greed

We have turned the clock backwards

We have stripped away rights

We have sanctioned child labor

We have done evil things

In our God’s holy name

But we have always awakened

In the spirit of righteous shame