Song For Shaquita Poem by Dosvedanya Rashia

Have I not seen you before?
Girl looing back at me from somewhere?
The pattern of her garment hauntingly familer,
as her face was upon the screen of that tv..
The stern assembly of guards swam into a blur
around us, but her smile stayed radiant and ascending
My hero, Shaquita, did you know you are that?

Her clothes were a mix of bright colors
A speck of glorious light in that dingy prison
a collage of yellows and sparkling pinks
showed in her a strength fit to make
the machine itself, crumble down

Did you know how you inspire me, girl?
As everday my own freedom reminds
me of you, far more deserving?

Her kind, dark lips beamed and grinned, .
a chapped lipped smile on her weathered face
of bruises, and old, deep wounds

May I call you my friend, Signora?

Her answer to me played itself on the music
of the old cd player, Thriller, A spirtual of beats,
pounding, raging, and screaming upwards
in a chorus of thunderingly- lovely definace

Chante Pour Mi, Shaquita!
Ignore, Please Los Federales!
My heart, with a breathlessness, watched only
As Her clever fingers, spun the silver dials
Lifting up through her pudgy hands
the feelings of all the captives
As she, evading the circling
hawks who gazed down with flint- eyes
rose for a brief moment like a humming bird
In that garden of sad faced children
Oh, My Daughter, Mon tres cher et belle amie
You have ascended! !