Title: Chains and Light

Who will cease this battle—

this war of whispers and fire-words?

Who will silence the injection of humiliation,

the sting of rejection,

the tearing of bodies by rape and murder?

Misleading conscious nations,

turning truth into smoke.

But Marcus Garvey still whispers: love.

Remember our forefathers—

they bled for freedom, they fought for unity.

So why do we chain ourselves

to tears that taste of betrayal?

Based on what?

Who? Where? When?

I have become a child of the slave,

branded by race and ethnicity,

bound by gender and sexuality.

Chained by my own people’s nations,

while imposters prowl with posters,

casting us into systems unkind—

our lives sold for shadows.

Chains and tears,

rains that do not wash away the pain.

How far will I run?

Where will we run to?

Who will hide us when the night is long?

But hear me—

we will rise.

We will rise above human measure,

past the cruelty of borders and tongues,

past the myths of power.

We will awaken light again—

for all humanity,

for eternal existence.

So when they ask me,

who will cease this battle?

I’ll say—WE will.

Not tomorrow. Not someday.

But now—

because chains break louder when we rise together.

By Guillit A.