Of Thee I Mourn

My country, ’tis of thee,
Fractured and broken,
of thee I mourn.

My neighbors do not fly our nation’s flag alone.
With it they flew the banner of a tyrant.
Now both flags are gone and the trucks
with decals of the confederacy are parked
backed into their driveways.

They, like the insurgents before them,
have
not
retreated.
They are not changed but are hidden...
again, and are waiting to strike.

Our father’s God to Thee,
Author of liberty for some,
But certainly not for all.

A constitution written with blood and hope
fell far short and tells a story of hypocrisy.
Our dark secret is fear of dark people;
their bodies broken for generations,
then exploited and violated,
lied to and devalued,
now brutalized on
the streets.

The fear is as unacknowledged as it is deep.
So the dissonant undercurrent of rage has
replaced loss of dominance in language of
the oppressed oppressor,
the wronged injurer,
the aggrieved master.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.

Except that the land is not ours.
It was appropriated by our forbearers.
Its noble free were subjects of genocide.
Its builders were slaves not compensated.
Our Exceptionalism does not brook with
humility, or apology, or reparation.

Looking into this dark glass makes us dizzy.
Liberty, democracy, freedom, abundance
are words that drop away when a
a dominant culture is threatened.
Then authoritarianism is preferred to
maintain
privilege
and
power.

Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,

Long gone is reason.
It left, riding on the back of truth.
Enemies are everywhere because fear reigns.
Conspiracy rules because lies are our currency.
Lawmakers will not enforce the law because power
is more important than governance or welfare or decency.

Walls for borders.
Pollution in the service of economy.
Children torn away from their families.
White bodies coddled when breaking the law.
Bodies of color beaten when protesting mass murder.

Great God our King!

forgive
us


Clovice A. Lewis, Jr.
1/27/21