Dying To Live

When the dawn of a rising sun full of purpose and beauty and strength shows herself

We will know the horror of sleepless nights

unrelenting insomnia is over

No more begging to be seen

Asking to be heard

Fighting for justice when it should be for us

All along



When you hear revolution in the shrill of a howl at the full moon, pregnant with possibility



Cries shut down because our skin maligned for its melanin



Your kin shot down mercilessly in the bloodied streets



We will know the deed is done.



For all of the begging, asking, and fighting

It was humanity itself at the core of the fight.



Who will be the first to own it?



Ownership is the nucleus

Its protons, neutrons, and electrons all

circling the empty promise of life built on equality



Ownership

As if a soul could be bought, paid for,

and owned



Who will be the one to give in to humanity

Lift it up above profits, and rancor, and filth?



When each man, woman, and child

the whole colorful rainbow

Is acknowledged



Done with the Us -Them - moved on to the We



Then it will be clear that slavery is inhumanity,

and the unprovoked shots fired at our backs, the anti-them for the benefit of the us



Will always be an obstacle to the We.



As WE are simply dying to live.



Dr. Ro is a Nutrition Coach who has had a passion for and performed poetry for live audiences since her freshman year in college. She was a student activist and continues her passion for poetry and spoken word today. So it is no surprise that she gives voice to the Trial of George Floyd and the trauma that the images of the injustice he and too many others faced because of systemic racism. This is a poem she wrote and recorded called “Dying To Live”.