DAY 5...Legacy of Women Continued

Nina Simone a woman whose voice led her down many paths, unerringly truthful never easy.

KILL ME IF YOU CAN

Kill my black flesh, but I shall live,
I tell you
I shall live.

My eternal soul shall live.
I am beyond death.

...While you are weak and easily broken
I am strong,
Tried by fire
and proven sturdy.

...While you think me animal and inferior
I am wise and bide my time.

...While you think me shameless and wanton,
a sexual miscreant
and brutally made
I am a celebrant of my humanity,
a connoisseur of beauty,
a skilled artist at my craft.

...and while you rant and rave
and beat me down
and shame me
and make me small in your eyes
and small in my eyes
I wait and grow
and stand and stretch
and smile inwardly
and trudge along
 

...swing low sweet chariot
                 comin' for to carry me home...

And sing the songs of redemption
and walk along...the proven path
and go on
and move up
and finally
fear only that which is inside of me that is
black.