PHOENIX
By Anthony Spencer Jones
Age 14, December 1980
Behold me for I am Black
My skin is ebony silk
My eyes are a beautiful brown haze
My muscles within my body are bands of steel
My face is young and full of much vitality and
My intellect can match that of the greatest scholars.
I have a great many talents
But for all of my beauty, talent and intellect
I still am by the heavy chains
Of bigotry, stereotypes, and fear.
Yet, one day I shall shatter the chains
The chains that bind me and
Rise up from the ashes of ignorance
For I shall be born anew
Like the fiery phoenix
So that the whole world may
See me in all my beauty.
