The Lesson ( after Maya Angelou )

I was conceived by a bloodline  
  of warriors:  Jew and Cherokee;    
I'm certain if we draw deep      
  there is also African American      
     
Thus, "abandon" is not a word      
existing in my ancestry—    
  neither does "quit"    
    though definition appears equal    
     
Maybe they are, technically      
  according to the dictionary—    
but, one slices more personally    
  as part of our humanity    
     
I am no quitter despite suffering    
  having swallowed the streets;      
I never stopped believing      
   'One day' I would have it:    
     
'One day' it would arrive—      
  a flagship bearing proof    
the treasure in its cargo hold    
  for those who refused to let go:    
     
the abandoned, hurt, destitute      
faithfully waiting upon the dock    
   with not one guarantee      
   anything would ever make port    
     
But, there you have it . . .    
  laden with truth, relief, and reward    
for those who didn't desert hope;    
  who refused to walk—  to quit    
     
  not on some lost dream, or lover      
  they could no longer stomach—      
nor a cruel plantation owner    
beating bloody the helpless . . .      
     
those who walked not by sight    
  entrenched knee-deep in mud    
toward a lost covenant of Love    
  finally having learnt      
     
the only thing needed to survive    
circumstance is belief—      
   whether in this world or the next    
   despite how hard it's kicked;      
   
Because freedom is never in vain;    
   it will rise up, and up again      
~      
     
#Maya Angelou