Showing Dignity That Won't Curl Up And Die Poem by Mark Heathcote

It's never too late to regret what they did.
They chained these fellow humans up by the neck.
These were a young-and-strong spirited lot
near broken but with their heads held high
showing dignity that won't curl up and die
marching barefoot and bleeding straight-backed
the heaviness of breathing, filling up their lungs
was enough to keep them occupied a lifetime?
But their buyers, their Lords, and masters
They had other plans.
They'd be worked in the fields and feel his lash
they'd dig and toil in his fields and one day-
soon, be consumed by it. Layout under it
and with as much dignity as a dog bone
thrown in a shallow hole, they'll remember
the bosom of a family, freedom freely given
that now takes a clairvoyant to remember anything,
yes, anything, anything remotely the likes of home.