Graduation by Kim Neal gathered from
LABEN newsletter dtd 6/98
In the beginning darkness dominates
My eyes are shrouded by the veil of
26,280 hours of sleepless nights
Near poverty, and my child laments
For the things I cannot any more provide
For precious moments stolen by the cruel
claws of capitalism
And my strife to steer us thru the tsu-
nami waves of life.
I blind my mind to the materialistic and
mundane struggles of living
And fix my soul on the light way down
yonder
When the bells will ring out my name
As it is inscribed in history - their history -
that once they denied my
ancestors
Haughtily I step in their midst - one like
them yet so much more
For mine is fulfilled with love, fired by
the burning desire to elude the pangs of
poverty
Fueled by the flames of stereotypes and
change
Amid capitalist cowards I stand -
Victorious!
I exalt my eyes over their lowly stance
as they gaze unknowingly at me
Twenty six thousand two hundred and
eighty hours ago we were acquainted
Struggling to survive the midnight hours
of sleepless nights
Some fell along the wayside
But not I!
Victorious -
With the backbone of my Baymen fore-
fathers and the trust of my daughter
I prevailed.
Graduation Day - how sweet a sound it
rings.
For them it is liberty from the toils of
scholarly education
For me it is but one small success on this
road of life.