RESILIENCE
Vitality that refuses
to be extinguished
In this dangerous land
Devastating lies
Distortions at every turn
Dead-ends
Impenetrable walls
Misleading rewards
Exclusion disguised as
token inclusion
Theft of innocence from children
unable to truly play
Breathtaking cruelty
Tolerance eventually collapses
into the truth of its inherent
hollowness
Terror wards off truth
Violence shields depravity
while diving more deeply
into it
Hell
masquerading as the land
of plenty
The bare branches
of winter trees
reveal all
And yet, just as new life
gestates invisibly underground
in this icy, killing clime
A magnificent resilience
cannot be daunted
There comes
another generation
with overthrow
even nearer
Love
unvanquished
holds all possibility
It is the resilience
that most deeply
moves me
As I bear witness
in Awe.
~Glenn Siegel
Glenn Siegel has been an Illuman Wisdom Elder, Teaching Elder, and a Convener in Illuman of the Ozarks.
This poem was written in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and inspired by the resilience black people continue to embody despite unrelenting barriers and dangers living in the U.S.
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