My Year with Mr. America
Despite my best efforts to keep away you continue to reel me in
You have wined and dined me
Wooed me with promises of freedom
A better life, a new world
You caressed my face with the hands that struck my ancestors
And I trusted you
You brushed my lips with those kissed roughly and left bruises
And I trusted you
I thought we were in love.
Truly.
And yet here we are
On the brink of an internal implosion
Staring at each other across the frontlines and I hate what you have done to me
You took what faith I had
You made me believe in a fantasy and
You broke my heart
How dare you stand there?
How dare you whisper sweet nothings in the ear of the next girl
One hand on her heart the other on the ass of Lady Liberty
How dare you act like the relationship between you and liberty is anything but a ruse
You do not believe in freedom you believe in captivity
You believe in stunted growth
And you do not believe in me
You have taken my freedom and presented it as though I should be honored to have it
You have taken my color and painted a canvas of preconceived notions
You have created an art gallery of what you would do to me
A painting of a rope on tree under dim lighting
A picture of a single rusty fountain spewing cloudy water under a sign that reads Colored
You have called on me for entertainment and I ran thinking you were everything good in this world
But
Mr. America you are a liar.
You have convinced me that the darkest shadows are hidden under the brightest lights
And you were the sun.
I have no home to return to.
You took me before I was born and now I have nowhere to turn
Mr. America you have broken everything and yet
I stay
Waiting for you to return to the man I knew you once were
I imagine you sweeping me in your arms with the familiarity of true love
And I can see your blue eyes reflecting a future for the two of us
And I am happy.
But happiness is fleeting
Yet I continue to wait like a fool
Thinking it will be different once we have both grown
But you cannot change those who have no desire to
And as we meet for our quadrennial anniversary
You disappointment me once again.