No Dreams Deferred

Where is the light in your eyes my dear child?
You're too young to be so angry
There should be no dreams deferred
There are no excuses to be heard
Blessed you are to be living in the days
When the color of your skin doesn't curtail your dreams
Your complaints would make your elders laugh
Shake their heads in bemusement at your so called angst
You run around using words not knowing what they truly mean
Call an old black man a "nigga" and look in his eyes
Living in them is the history of the true struggle
You pay homage to them, black men and women
By being enslaved in the mentality
They fought so hard to break free from
There should be no dreams deferred on your watch
When all your dreams are as close as the memories of a better future
Dreamed by your forefathers not so long ago
There should be no dreams deferred-not on your watch.

Dean Jean-Pierre
4-25-06
www.deanthepoet.com