How Long Has it Been?

How long has it been?
How long has it been since I was lost in the world wrapped up in sin?
How long has it been since I left my kids wondering, where’s their mother hen?
How long has it been since the chains were first secured on my wrist?
How long has it been since they stripped me of my clothes and called it a frisk?
How long has it been since I was convicted of a crime I did not do?
How long has it been since I was told to be quiet, that “They won’t come for you”?
It has been twenty-four years since I’ve heard the sound of my kids’ chatter.
It has been twenty-four years of them thinking that they do not matter.
It has been twenty four years of pain and loud voices.
It has been twenty four years of me second guessing my own choices.
It has been twenty four years of steel beds and constant roommates.
So I guess I’m asking…….how long will it take my fate to open up this gate?
How long has it been?
 

Colored, Chained, and with Covid

Strike one: I’m Black, I am a woman of color
Strike two: I’m chained … considered only a number
Strike three: I’m infected, Covid took me under
I’m not making this up, just making you wonder
Rushed to isolation, don’t know what to do,
By men in white astronaut-looking suits
Thrown in a cell with no mattress for hours
The water is brown tastes kind of sour
I see another inmate whose color is not like mine
Receive a mattress in record breaking time
I’m Colored, chained with Covid at the end of the line I’ll go
How did I get this deadly virus I’ll probably never know.
This is my fate in a place that can be so biased
How did I succumb to this rampant deadly virus
I cannot breathe at night because my lungs are infected
Going through this alone is something I fast perfected
I lost a friend who had lung cancer she never had a chance
Covid came and took her out before I second glanced
Thirty-two days I spent in the dungeon of isolation
With a cough, some chills and a lot of perspiration
I made it through although the treatment was bad
I pulled on my faith and all of the strength that I had.
Colored, chained, with Covid, what a statistic
When Fate was passing out luck I must have just missed it