PoetBay.com, the poetry webpage where you can publish your poems and short stories

graffiti

i am told that this is the land
of freedom and opportunity
that in this place all men are accounted
as equals before God

but i see innocent people
bound in shackles
for crimes that they did not commit
i see the pain in their eyes
and i see the lives of families ravaged
to the point that they have nothing left
not even enough money to provide for themselves
and they can no longer go on any further...
all of this is done by the cold hands of "law and order"
and i see the judge,
the almighty, sitting on high
to give her decree
to the people

"let's go and paint graffiti
on the walls of the court house!"

they said rosa parks was an outlaw,
and they spread lies about dr. king
they beat us for speaking our minds
but when we speak our hearts,
our words will cause them
to beat themselves into the ground

"let's go and paint graffiti
on the walls of the court house!"

we branded our message
upon the side of the building:
it said "love is a higher law",
and they said that we have defiled their temple;
but they have defiled humanity.

if they shall put us to death,
then they shall silence
the sound of our voices
for all eternity -
but truth is eternal and cannot be silenced
though the perversions of mankind
seem all powerful for a time,
truth shall prevail in the end
the bricks of their fortress
shall rot with time's passing hours
brief be the time of the structures of man

and on that day,
all the people of the world
shall gather together in one place,
hold hands and sing aloud,
"love is a higher law",
and the decree shall be heard
the whole world over

this will be the land
of freedom and opportunity
in this place all men will be accounted
as equals before God

Poetry by Thomas Perdue