rootsong By Melvin
Root song
in us and through us forever
There are native sons living
And we must always touch their origins
For they give us a pulse that reminds us
of the strangers in our bone.
In us and thru us forever
There are future black selves
And we must always touch their origins
For they give us the word that informs us
Of the strangers in our tongue.
Against whole centuries of blood dripping skies
Against the rape and burning flesh and twisted sinew
Against today's murder and oppression and indignities
While we struggle we must never forget that
In us and thru us forever
There are african spirits moving
And we must always touch their origins
For they give us heart that beats for the lives
That are so unfamiliar and so exalte
Melvin E. Brown was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, Brown received his M.A. in 1977 to 1981. He was the editor of Chicory Magazine, a publication of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. he has also been a faculty member at Sojourner Douglass College. His first volume of poetry In the First Place was published in 1974. Most recently, his poetry appeared in In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African American Poetry.