Liberian Literary Magazine
Promoting Liberian literature, Arts and Culture
They say, draw near to one another,
Sav e your race.
You hav e been paid for in a distant place,
The old ones remind us that slav ery's chains
Hav e paid for our freedom again and
again.
We are beautiful people
w ith african imaginations
full of masks and dances and sw elling
chants
w ith african eyes, and noses, and arms,
though w e spraw l in grey chains in a place
full of w inters, w hen w hat w e w ant is sun.
The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the w alls hav e been steep.
We hav e been captured,
brothers. And w e labor
to make our getaw ay, into
the ancient image, into a new
The hells w e hav e liv ed through and liv e
through still,
Hav e sharpened our senses and toughened
our w ill.
The night has been long.
This morning I look through your anguish
Right dow n to your soul.
I know that w ith each other w e can make
ourselv es w hole.
I look through the posture and past your
disguise,
And see your lov e for family in your big
brow n eyes.
correspondence w ith ourselv es
and our black family. We read magic
now w e need the spells, to rise up
return, destroy, and create. What w ill be
the sacred w ords?
Million Man March
I say, clap hands and let's come together in
this meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let's deal w ith each
other w ith lov e,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low
road of indifference,
Clap hands, let us come together and
rev eal our hearts,
Let us come together and rev ise our spirits,
Let us come together and cleanse our souls,
Clap hands, let's leav e the preening
And stop impostering our ow n history.
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the
ledge,
Clap hands, let us inv ite joy into our
conv ersation,
Courtesy into our bedrooms,
Gentleness into our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.
Maya Angelo
The night has been long,
The w ound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the w alls hav e been steep.
Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I w as dragged by my braids just beyond
your reach.
Your hands w ere tied, your mouth w as
bound,
You couldn't ev en call out my name.
You w ere helpless and so w as I ,
But unfortunately throughout history
You'v e w orn a badge of shame.
I say, the night has been long,
The w ound has been deep,
The pit has been dark
And the w alls hav e been steep.
The ancestors remind us, despite the history
of pain
We are a going-on people w ho w ill rise
again.
But today, v oices of old spirit sound
Speak to us in w ords profound,
Across the years, across the centuries,
Across the oceans, and across the seas.
And still w e rise.
53