In my country
Gentrification causes trees to be cut down
Trees that for 200 years
Have been lifting their branches to the sky
Learning to praise God the best way they know how
Existing
In my Bible it says that
Jesus restored sight to a blind man
The man said I see men as trees walking
I wonder if he saw their branches stretched out
Did he think they were waving in surrender?
Did he see a tree fall and if it did fall
Did it make a sound?
In cities across my nation
Neighborhoods are being gentrified
They who are blind to trees and men
Cut down our black boys
Having envied their strong mahogany backs
For the last 200 years
Mistook their strong bark for aggression for bullet proof
Tried to test their theory
I wonder did they mistake surrender for fighting stance?
When trees are cut down pressed into paper
How easy it is to rewrite laws
#CrimingWhileWhite
In Athens
There is a tree that owns its own land
In America
There are families that still hope for 40 acres and a mule
The trees are a forest of soldiers
A wall of determination they want to cut down
#ICantBreathe
Justice has been blind for so long
She sees men as trees
Ties ropes to trees
Watches them fall
Leaves them to sun dry
#DieIn
Dear God
When you see a tree fall
When you hear a tree fall
Take their hands
Carry them home