Crossed Over
In the pale of the ghost moon’s
silvery phantom light
We crossed over from Can’t to Can
When you and I jumped over the blessed broom,
and were called husband and wife
We crossed over from slaves to free humans
that night
We made a vow to run hard ...
run long ...
run fast ...
outwit the police rollers paid to catch us
We ran scared for our lives,
but were more scared of being a slave again
You and I escaped from the whip and chain —
the oppression quicksand: beatings and groveling
Forced to be animals, made to stoop not stand
We poisoned the master’s dogs that night,
and crossed over from Can’t to Can
We ran scared for our lives,
scared of not knowing what being free
had in store for us ...
Uncertain future in the unknown roads up ahead
Yesterday, passed a poster of us in the free city of Philadelphia,
and the caption read: Wanted alive or dead
We crossed over and slept good that night,
determined to make ourselves a dignified earthen bed
This new day we be a free woman and man,
moving our lives from Can’t to Can ...
Can’t nobody anymore put chains around our feet,
no, we’d rather be dead
Nobody can ever again put chains inside our head
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2017
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