About Me Poem by RIC BASTASA

this is all about me
my name is Handa Awit
it means Ready Sing
it is a request
but it can be a command
for people to sing
for us
for everyone to stop talking
and sing
there is something in the song
that makes us joyous
even in grief the song will always
be uplifting
a song of love
a praise for God
a song for unity
a song for liberty

my hair is black and long
and is blown by the winds of change
it is only one of my eyes that see
for one is closed in
a dream
my thick lips open for this song
of freedom
not from the bondage of war
for there is none
but from the bondage of our
worries
away from the land of depression
the cities of noise
the bumpy roads of our
differences
i am brown like the earth
i am the shade of the west and the east
my name is an invitation
for us to sing
a song of love
of freedom of harmony