For Malcolm X
Margaret Walker 1915 – 1998
All you violated ones with gentle hearts;
You violent dreamers whose cries shout heartbreak;
Whose voices echo clamors of our cool capers,
And whose black faces have hollowed pits for eyes.
All you gambling sons and hooked children and bowery bums
Hating white devils and black bourgeoisie,
Thumbing your noses at your burning red suns,
Gather round this coffin and mourn your dying swan.
Snow-white moslem head-dress around a dead black face!
Beautiful were your sand-papering words against our skins!
Our blood and water pour from your flowing wounds.
You have cut open our breasts and dug scalpels in our brains.
When and Where will another come to take your holy place?
Old man mumbling in his dotage, crying child, unborn?
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Written on 1989
Submitted by Drone232 on May 20, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 15 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XXXXXXXX AXXXAX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 728 |
Words | 134 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
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"For Malcolm X" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/127943/for-malcolm-x>.
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