Planting A Seed

By Frederick Eberhardt (Breeze “I Life This” The Poet)

To be African American

Is to be torn from the roots and set in desolate soil

It was all a plot

The plot of white minds snatching a plot land that’ll become the burial plot of our people

Thought they would reap a cemetery 

A grave site of souls that would ripen into property

The problem is...We’ve been the salt of this land since we got here

The fertilizer feeding the revitalization of scorched earth

The nutrients needed to resuscitate this dead dirt

You thought you could grow us helpless and harmless

Like it aint our blood and sweat that maintain all this

And now y’all astonished

When you see what became of the abundance of our harvest

Purpose always comes to light...and we have so much sun in our skin we even grew in the darkness

We planted a prayer...and footprints formed

We planted a song...and way out was birthed 

We planted a way...and the stars grew into a map

We planted strength...and we left every shackle snapped

You tried to write us out of history when our heritage was the author

You tried to crop us out of our lineage when our ancestors were the farmers

And we bloomed anyway...the sweet of our fruit a poison spoiling your truth...how compelling

That you bought sold and sowed souls just to reap a rebellion

And this is why we’ll always strive and believe 

Slave ship to plantation yall never planned for us to leave

Plantation to segregation yall never meant to give us peace

So with every moment of black boy joy and black girl magic...your disdain is increased

Because as much as you tried to cut us down...it just adds another ring to the tree

The truth will always continue to be

That nothing says hope like planting a seed