I Had A Dream

When I was just a child
I heard the voice of God
I heard a famous speech
A man named Martin Luther King
Told us that he had a dream
And I dreamed right along with him
I dreamed the world was one
I thought the battle had been won
I dreamed that all the world could see
The beauty that his dream revealed
I dreamed that all humanity
Was bound by brotherhood and unity
That love reigned free
That brotherhood included me
That sisters did not need to be free
I did not dream of a sister hood
Because I had not yet understood
That there was any difference
Between brothers and sisters

Now many years have passed
I watch the news each night
I see the hate and fright
Rule over all our lives
And each day I cry
To see the nightmare
That has become our Life
What happened to the dream
They shot the King and he lay dead
All that’s left is a holiday instead
His voice a scratchy recording
His dream a wishful longing
And peaceful resistance old school logic
I need to hear his clear strong voice
Telling me once more
That I can dream of greater things
And make the dream a reality
Live a life of empathy
Stand up for truth and decency

My tears won’t stop now
They are a river flowing over dykes
They run into the River Styx
Where human folly meets its plight
Pays heavily for its lack of sight
Forgetting they must pay a price
Regardless of any earthy privilege or right
Or towering heights
Charon can not discriminate
Between the good man and knave
Between a rich man or a slave
Between a man of God
Or a man depraved
They all go down to the underworld
As if they were never even born
The Elysium Fields the last reward
Forgetfulness the final goal
For all the heroes of this world
Both young and old

I am afraid like you
I am afraid the world
Does not know what to do
Does not have the will to carry through
Cannot dream the dream and start anew
The death and bloodshed never rued
By Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jew
The word of God fills cry and hew
Death is the certainty of what is true
After the silence of the bombs
We rush in to spread calm
And say a prayer or two
And I am to believe
That’s all we need to do
Mohammed, Jesus, Yahweh, Krishna too
Are you still waiting for a cue
Your people kill us
While we wait for you
They say it is our due

Am I naïve and unaware
Is it childish to cry ‘It’s not fair!’
To expect the people of the world to share
To believe that we can all care
To leave our comfort zone and dare
The hawks tell me I do not understand
The strategic discourse they propound
‘You are a woman that is all’
Perpetually to sentiment bound
It is true I found
The effort to be human ran aground
Upon the vanity of the fatherland
Where female is a dirty sound
Where the struggle of all humanity
Is under the oppression of hierarchy
And I am judged not by my character
But the quality of my physiology
Nobility is made subject to chemistry and biology
Ethnicity, tribalism, patriotism, and religious tautology

I had a dream
That character is all that counts
I was advised to forget the song and dance
Get off the fence
My nature to enhance
To exercise a little common sense
Challenge your best guess
About the world and all her guests
If you would know me, you must know thyself
Just like the Bard says
Instead, your words conceal pretense
My dream has gone into descent
I feel like Alice falling through the hole
Persephone stuck in the underworld
Helen of Troy longing for home
While armies kill and die to own her soul
All victims of a lying world
That mines the feminine like gold
And then decides to blame her for her woes

© Lesley Gene Agams February 03, 2007 Abuja, Nigeria