“Self Portrait” by Katie McDowell (18), New Orleans Center for Creative Arts "An Old Man in Military Costume" by Simone Wuttke (18), Dartmouth College (recent Benjamin Franklin High School graduate) "This oil on canvas painting is inspired by Rembrandt's 'An Old...
THE LORD IS COMING
By MIRACLE SMITH
Every day I pray for my people
Wake up and every move is a struggle
We entertain to be seen
We yell to be heard
But HEARING and UNDERSTANDING are two different words
Sometimes when we do catch someone’s ear
They are too distracted by our vernacular to hear
I pray for my people
Because even when we are woke
We are still asleep
Our thoughts and our intentions don’t match our actions
You’re angry yet you stay still
And when you do decide to move
You, my brother
My sister
My cousin
My blood
Play a game of blame
Blame it on the system
Blame it on police
But you don’t see that your biggest enemy looks like me
You scream BLACK LIVES MATTER but out killing yourself in the streets
To me
You just define a “NI**A”
Not going to lie and say I’m not guilty of having my “NI**A” moments too
But I dare you
To call me one too
And to those who scream ALL LIVES MATTER
Same goes to you because your biggest threat is yourself too
You feed your inner demons by inflicting them on those who appear inferior
To make yourself seem bigger
And the descendants of you don’t see why we blame them too
They say they’re not the issue
They weren’t the ones who inflicted pain on to my people
They say they have nothing to do with the hindering of my blood from being equal
They say they were following orders
Now speaking to them
If you had common sense you wouldn’t have it get further
But guys
No more need to worry or cry
So dry your eyes
Because He has been watching this unfold
And He too is fed up with how His story has been used and told
He tired of the devil and its evil
So look out
Because the Lord is coming for His people.
By Miracle Smith
MIRACLE “MELODY” SMITH is a 16-year-old junior at KIPP Booker T. Washington High School. She has been singing and writing since the seventh grade and hopes to further her creativity at Howard University. Music and writing are her way of telling her perspective of the world and who she is as a person. She also uses her talents as a way to empower those who need uplifting and show them that they are not alone. Miracle was inspired to write this poem by the artist H.E.R.’s song “Lord Is Coming.”