Untouched Poem by Faustina Marie

I stand untouched
by flames and clubs
But the horror rakes my throat,
The fires are far away
The fighters are far away,
Five decades in the past
And
A single decade in the past
And
Hundreds of miles away

My daddy was never beaten
For walking down a street,
I was never barred from school
For the color of my cheeks.
My ancestor's backs never tasted
The sting of planters' whips,
And yet breaths of terror
Struggle through my lips

Burned down their own ghettos?
Those held their houses and their shops
Their schools and their homes
Their children and their brothers

The screams
The screams would've dripped with familiarity
With filiality!
The hate wasn't piercing the enemy
The hate was lashing the common victim

The enemy...
The enemy was fading already;
The lion licked its vile paws
And clenched its carnal jaws-
Forswearing its wicked ways,
(At the barrel of tamer's persuader,
but a surrender nonetheless)

My daddy was never beaten
For walking down a street,
I was never barred from school
For the color of my cheeks,
But the screams scrape at my skin
My burning aching skin...