Burnt In A Fire Poem by Mustafa Marconi

Under no circumstances
Will I agree to compromise
Settle for less then what is rightfully mine
Because it is the prudent thing to do
Under no circumstances
Will I allow hostile policies
To trample on our tomorrow
Allow outsiders to define who I am
Establish guidelines for my loyalty
As we are disproportionately shuttled
Further and further away from the American dream
Under no circumstances
Will I allow disingenuous men of God
To promote the slave controlling religion of old,
In my household
Watching them con the masses
Searching for heavenly answers
To all of life’s struggles
As they casually relieve all of their parishioners
Of all their earthly goods
Under no circumstances
Will I eat the fruits of artificial freedom
Imploring every victim and future victim
Of racial profiling and violence
To abandon the ridiculous notion
That true justice will one day prevail
And live by the mantra,
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”
For sheer sheep will never intimidate a fox
Under no circumstances
Will I not honor our glorious past
Sons of slaves, descendants of great Kingdoms
We have traded our birthrights
For stigmas and stereotypes
Our skin, “like bronze burnt in a fire”
Like Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses
Great and noble men of God
Under no circumstances
Will I ever forget
The many causes for what ills African Americans
And the many causes for what ills
The continent of Africa
Divided and conquered by the Europeans
The lasting effects of their butchery
Continues to produce treachery and upheaval
Relegating future generation
To a second class existence
Void of the promise of possibility and hope
Under no circumstances
Will I settle for less
Then what is rightfully mine
Or allow earthly robes and positions
To determine my collective worth
For these principles will I die
A modest and humble son of a slave
Descendants of countless
Great and noble
Prophets of God