Go Tell Brooks
(In honour of Gwendolyn Brooks)


Go tell Brooks
That it is not yet redemption day
Even if Martin Luther King, Jr, had his way
For the prophecy is yet to be fulfilled
Even though the Statue of Liberty has been unveiled.
For we have to change the rule of the White hand
If we must reach our Promise Land.

Go tell Brooks
That I have seen it in their White books
The White books of their fears
And I have seen it in their White looks
The White looks of their tears.
I know how they dread us
The way their White ancestors dreaded Colossus.

Go tell Brooks
That we know the truth
And the truth is our faith
And our faith is our strength
To dare their wrath
The wrath of the earth
Without even the fear of death.

Go tell Brooks
That we hear the echoes of the bell
And we know all will soon be well.
The beginning of our emancipation
Is the beginning of our salvation.
For I see the sun rising in the horizon
Behold the coming of the new dawn.



By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Before 6am on April 2, 1988.