D A N D E L I O N

Dorcas Baah

Yelling

Fighting

Safe spaces hardly exist

In places - we often resist

The powers that be

Never on our side, you see.

So we take matters into our own hands,

Community: together we stand.

Surviving

But even so,

As we press on towards our goal,

Walls of inequality

Barge against our unity,

Our progression.

Our peace –

Forgive them their transgressions.

Breathing

Then yellow comes along to remind

Us of our beauty, our strength.

Whispers hope that’s one of a kind

They promise a better morn’

Despite the treacherous dawn.

She calls us her brother, sister, friend

Partner In Peace.

Her honey kisses awaken the powerful

Love that lives within our unique cocoons; full

Of untold stories.

She comes with the fierce fire of a brave people

Daring us to overcome darkness.

Healing

Then we inhale the world’s negativity,

Smothering it with relentless love

Till its embers are no more.

Exhale

Now. We fly above,

Towards a future

Our ancestors could only pray for.

We claim that reality

With a righteous stamp

Unwilling to lose

For those after us are hungry too.

Growing

So instead of asking why we love the way we do,

Why we dance so fiery and free

And our spirit transcends the worldly cages of oppression,

Why empathy extends from the deepest crevice of our souls

And attaches to your own,

Why hate can never infiltrate our fortitude

Perhaps you should take some time to ponder,

Wonder:

Have you ever met the colour yellow?

For she is well acquainted with Melanin.