My Statue of Liberty, Part I

My Statue of Liberty
Ain’t no lady in green
Sitting in a harbor
Offerin’ false promise;
Not when I’m here
Chained and shackled
And an old man’s whip
Is slashing my back

My Statue of Liberty
Don’t make false requests
Like calling for “wretched souls
Yearnin’ to breathe free”;
Not when I’m here
In the old man’s field
Choking on air
That stinks of bondage

My Statue of Liberty
Wouldn’t hold
No light of freedom
That I can’t see
That don’t lead me;
Not when I’m here
Runnin’ in the dark
For my life
And that old man’s dog
Is hunting me

No sir,
That ain’t my statue
And her words ain’t for me--
Not when I’m here
Swingin’ from that old man’s tree



Author's Note:  I wrote this poem unexpectedly a while back, as a result of picture that someone sent me on FB which showed two different versions of the Statue of Liberty.  According to the link, there was originally a black Statue of Liberty that the French offered the US, but the US rejected it because it was black. The story turned out to be an internet hoax, but I was moved by it.  I was going to write about the black SOL by contrasting it to the one we have now, but as I wrote, this came out instead. Here is the link to the pictures if you are interested:

http://pulseradio.ning.com/forum/topics/the-g-list-the-original-statue-of-libert...