From My Lips…In the Midst of Ferguson

From My Lips….In the Midst of Ferguson

I still have greater prayers for you
than just to stay alive.
I pray you thrive;
that everything you desire
is guided by the Most High,
and is limited only by your efforts to obtain it.
I pray that fear never kisses your brow
and death never entertains the idea
of taking you prematurely.
I pray you fully grow
to understand your place
in this world
has been shared by kings and queens
just like you,
and that you are neither
beneath or above any man;
save those that bury themselves
in the hatred of humanity.
I pray you choose wisdom over folly
with the understanding that it comes with a price.
You may be lonely,
and tested,
and angered
by the lessons that precede it,
but I pray
that anger never consumes you;
only fuels you to be better than we
who came before you.
I pray you know love;
that you give and receive it,
because you were conceived in it.
From your conception until my transition,
this,
these prayers and their subsequent actions,
(because prayer can move mountains,
but you must first move your feet),
are the greatest protection and gift,
other than life itself,
that I can offer you.

-T. Anyabwelé, Black Girl Speaks