William Taylor, our resident award-winning poet, is expanding YAAHA’s interactive teaching abilities by creating original poems that coincide with the teachings featured in The Chronicle of Heroes, Black Contributions to America, and on our website. His most recent creation is a poem about the freedom seeker’s journey on the Underground Railroad. Enjoy his reading of this copyrighted poem, Can’t Get Derailed on the Road to Freedom, here.
Can’t Get Derailed on the Road to Freedom
Ssshhhhhhhhh
Tonight’s the night
Late night
We put it all in God’s hands & let his spirit
guide us through a kerosene light
Connecting dots
Using whatever resources we’ve got
With every stitch of a cornrow
Like a black Morse code
playing a crucial role
Creating secret maps & messages guiding
slaves on where to go
No
We’re not taking the high road
And the route we’re taking the streets aren’t
paved in gold
NO
LOOKING
BACK
No horses
No chariots
We follow this fierce little angel named
Harriet
ONE MISSION
Escape the prohibition in efforts to coexist
under our own conditions fueled by a
burning desire for the abolition of these
slave conditions
No
time to get rattled
Internal wars we battled
Our
cores have been rattled
What more can we tackle
CLICK
CLACK
Sound the shackles
No more can we straggle
Whips & Chains stripped of our ancestral
last names
IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE!!!
So, within the depths of this sun kissed flesh
I stay motivated singing negro spirituals
under my breath
“Swing Low Sweet Chariot Coming For to
Carry Me Home…”
I’m not alone
These hands worked to the bone
A king who has no throne
It’s finally time I stand on my own
No
time to get rattled
Internal wars we battled
Our
cores have been rattled
What more can we tackle
CLICK
CLACK
Sound the shackles
No more can we straggle
We stood the test of time
We been on the front line
We bore backlash with bravery
A secret society of slavery
A fraternity
And each and every one of us wants one
thing that seems so hard for the rest of the
world to see
WE
JUST
WANT
TO
BE
FREE