Poem #1291: Juneteenth 2022: Celebrating Freedom

Africa 

Your sons and daughters

Triumph in a faraway land

Freed from all fetters

Travails of our grandmothers

And grandfathers have

Unlocked the prison doors

And made room for the walk to freedom

When God turned again the captivity

Of the children of Africa

We were like they that dream dreams

From our fathers

And carry the glories

From our mothers

Ours is a story scribbled in blood

Stolen from fields of gruesome massacre

Of a people robbed of choice

But free at last

We their chillun

Celebrate the victory of the past

With a resounding blast

Hallelujah we're free at last

No more slaves

But joint heirs of the land

In which our fathers were apes

And our mothers raped

Our freedom is blood bought

And free we shall remain

Whatever the cost.

Akpan 

Juneteenth '21

Juneteenth commemorates emancipation of African-American slaves on June 19, 1865
Today, President Biden signed a bill declaring it a US National Holiday.

There's a brand new holiday

A prophetic hallelujah day,

Cause ain't nobody dig freedom

Like a man who's been a slave

Ain't nobody crave a destination

Like the man on the inside of a cage,

So as we descend the mountaintop

On the Canaan side

The Promised Land awaits us,

With the tears in our eyes

And with open arms we receive

The Glory of the coming

Of the Lord,

Cause we've been free

And we've been crushed,

But nothing can compare

To this beauty revealed in us.

The mountains are laid bare

And the dreams of our fathers,

The hopes of our mothers

Fill up the valleys of despair

Now on June 19th of every year

We mark a holiday for freedom.

Juneteenth is the new word

A worthy trade for emancipation

Of the people of color

And everybody who loves freedom.

Akpan