by Ernie McCray
I met with some good folks
on a beautiful warm and sunny day
to just unify
with people of like minds.
And it was well worth my time
as we sang a few songs
and opened a mic
to prose and rhymes
after taking a little time
to burn sage
to purify our bodies and our minds,
giving reverence to the
ideals of the indigenous cultures,
the hundreds of tribes
who lived on these shores
long before the rest of us arrived,
in that spirit
devoting our lives
to the promises of
peace, liberty, and hope,
vowing
to stand strong and tall
to undo the brutal abuse
that has been perpetrated
on our democracy,
like mighty Sahuaros
defying the desert’s relentless heat
for their very survival,
as they, at the same time,
beautify their surroundings.
Oh, those moments,
were precious to me
and I left the gathering
like a tissue
floating on a gentle breeze,
energized
and humanized,
and I then,
in such a state of mind,
with my beautiful querida,
set off for another good time,
a loving event
where there was delicious food
and great live and deejay-played music
filling the air
with good cheer,
in celebration of union workers
of all kinds,
people who forever
put their boots on the ground
(the theme of the dinner),
to create a world
that’s fair-minded and sound,
their successes
so dependent, to a great extent,
on what the focus was for me earlier in the afternoon:
unifying.
And they do it with a flair,
with an attitude
of not just
demanding seats at the table,
but building their own,
and I’m down with that
from the depths of my heart and soul
and to the marrow of my bones.
I will savor this day for a while
as it was just my style,
a day of joy,
during troubled times,
when people joined each other
to, in essence, say:
“Hell No”
to all the madness,
in our country,
at play.
Put simply I had
a very nice day embracing unity.
