POETRY: Deferred Justice by Reggie Drake

We have been left stranded,

And abandoned.

Locked like caged birds behind societies' iron bars of institutionalism.

Why can't we be heard.

Teens shout and scream profanities behind this invisible barrier,

Hoping that the dream that has long eluded their grasp can finally be clasped behind eager fingers.

Let Justice be heard.

The road to dejection is paved with the aspirations of children who have faltered and crumbled underneath the overbearing weight,

Of anvils labeled oppression,

And rejection.

Forced to scratch and claw.

Outlaws that have been denied access into a world that has never truly understood their struggle.

Blood spills on suburban street corners.

We are like animals who fight and kill each other for supremacy,

The instinctive philosophy of survival of the fittest coursing through the veins of a people,

Who have been led astray by visions of grandeur in the form of diamonds and luxes,

Materialistic ideals that corrode and erode the body until it is left craving for the world's vices.

Let Justice finally spread its radiant wings,

And cleanse my people of this degradation and regression that has cursed us for so long.

Let Justice finally put an end to our suffering,

Hear the silent cries of tormented souls and quiet their tears.

For only then can we be see the world through freedom's eyes.

Only then can we step forward;

After a thousand step backs.