Debut of the poem ‘Oh Say Can You Be’ by Jeff Daverman at The Beastro in Prescott, AZ on 10/12/16
This poem is dedicated to the defiant resisters…
Oh Say Can You Be
Oh say, can you be
Oh say, can you be
A human who knows
How to greet destiny?
Can you love so you say
You have no enemy?
By daring greatly
Well, what have you done lately?
Get up and stand up like you do it innately!
There is strength, I can see, in diversity
To all my people of color, all my LGBT
Gotta say it out loud, you’re all equal to me
I will advocate strongly for your dignity
Oh say, please don’t be another bystander
Averting your eyes and not lending a hand or
Withholding your shock or dismissing the strife
From Flint to Standing Rock
You know Water Is Life!
So, Get Up, Stand Up like Nesta Marley
Or like Kaepernick
You can straight take a knee
Oh say, can you see? (x2)
Everywhere that you look
A Revolutionary
Non-violent
Non-silent
Defiant resisters
The mothers the fathers
My brothers and sisters
Exercising the right
Through this perilous fight
From the dawn’s early light
To the twilight’s last gleaming
Direct action applying is not merely dreaming…
So gallantly streaming always conscious of these
One after the other mad atrocities
Fueling a fire of ferocity…
Emphatic expression
A heightened sense of desperation
Another public execution
Asphalt, blood and indignation
Lean into understanding, help to bring this to a cease!
It’s up to those who live in beauty now to reconcile this beast…
O’er the ramparts we watched
As down they come a-crashing
A wall can not protect you
When the paradigms a-smashing
I know it’s not in fashion, but
Won’t you please just listen?
Instead a red glare
Yet with collaboration
Unification
The poems bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
Those who dare are still there
The folks of broad stripes
In the night these bright stars
Inspiring this choice
To recite these golden bars
To use the freedom of my voice
Let’s help to heal the scars
Through this struggle let’s rejoice
And make this moment ours!
Now you see the light
And it’s clear what it resembles
Relationships more than anthems
People more than symbols
Freedom of expression
Direct action, keep it nimble
Stand up for your rights
What so proudly we hailed
Like the blind receiving sight
Opposed to hate so thinly veiled
Oh say, are you free in the home the brave?
History does takes sides what will your choice engrave?
Your descendents gonna know if you were free or mental slave
Where are you in these times,
What does your banner wave?
Human = Human
Nothing less will be permissible
When we pledge allegiance to each other
One conscience Indivisible
This poem so very well hits the mark. These days a new verse could be added every week, every day, often every hour. Thank you for reminding us that we are humans and these barriers, though artificial, can be exploited for good or bad.
Thank you Larry!