"Speak" by Asia

[ornotna]

Thought I would share another poem with you all.



"Speak" by Asia
In the beginning was the word
From the moment civilization learned
to part tired lips
exhaling air through vocal chords
aimed towards the sun
Humanity was changed forever

And since then forever evolving
Sound manipulated into syllables
Turned and twisted to form words
Compounded from end to end
giving birth to books and poems
scriptures and psalms
Prophets and messiahs scribbling
with ink and blood making love in their palms
Miles of manuscripts now stretching into
the furthest depths of intelligence
provoking speeches that reaches
the ears of the masses
to bring revolution to them

For in the word was power
A power to save lives
A power to cause uprising
A power to teach
A power to call on this artistry of speech
and move some sons-of-bitches

And the masses fought
From religious crusades to million man marches
Faithful and strong-hearted
they gathered in quantity
Now follow me
Through stories of struggle
Retold over and over from
Mentor to Disciple
Grandparent to grandchild
Passing through generations
And for a brief moment

Stop here

Right here where I stand before you like
A tree born with roots
filtered by yesterday's experience
Exhausted exasperated and pissed
Attempting to sift through the confusion of
How we went
from apostles speaking bible scripts
to politicians with bullshit on their lips
from segregation picket signs
to corporate CEO's with
only their own agendas in mind
I ask you
To what direction are we moving?

More and more losing sight
Losing battles we're meant to fight
Our lips remaining sealed and tight

But not tonight
Not with me
Not after I’ve been blessed with the responsibility
To empower poems that empower the meek
To be in constant pursuit of the words I seek
To bum rush the masses I will not be made weak
To bum rush the masses as loud as I can speak

I speak for you

For every woman
Kept quiet by husbands yearning
to keep the legacy of abuse
left by fathers before him to continue turning

I speak for you

For every teen
Fixated on materialistic dreams
Who's only knowledge of poetry
is what they've heard and seen
watching music videos on the television screen

I speak for you

For every village
Ransacked raped and pillaged
by rebels heavily equipped
with M-16s they press against the lips
of those they remind that
speaking is now a luxury

I speak for you

For every poet
On the brink of changing the world
only to be killed in her attempt
Her pen
Once a sword
Helpless against the quick slice of his knife
Throat slashed
Blood spewing
Gasping for air with the same voice
that once gave her life

I speak for you

This tongue forever lashing
This jaw forever biting

To speak pain like a masochist
spit fire like an arsonist
Never mind being a spoken word artist
if my message is garbage and heartless
But this heart beats the blood
I won't allow to run cold
Replacing cigarettes with dynamite
so my lungs could explode
And even then if death
were to try to take hold
I would take the last drop of blood I had left
and place it on the back of my throat
Because if ever
there was any part of me
I could choose to live just a few seconds longer
My only choice would be my voice
Ready to die with my mouth still blazing noise
So tell death to come
tell death I'm here
tell death to do its best
to try and come near
For in the beginning was the word
and in the end is me
Mouth pointed to the sky
Shouting smack dab into the face of eternity
Willing to surrender mortality
even in a state of unspeakable violence
As long as I was able to reach you and teach you
before I am ever and forever

Silenced...

[pinerow]

1. Outstanding...some of the best stuff I have

seen here...including my own...keep on keepin on, I'm with ya...

[ornotna]

2. It is outstanding

I heard some more of his poetry on the radio the other night, just blew me away. So I went and ordered his CD. :)