If You Are Free, You Are Not

I Wrote Those Poems For Myself, As A Way Of Being A Soldier Here In This Country. I Didn't Know The Poems Would Travel. I Didn't Go To Lebanon Until Two Years Ago, But People Told Me That Many Arabs Had Memorized These Poems And Translated Them Into Arabic.

There Is A Man Who Exists As One Of The Most Popular Objects Of Leadership, Legislation, And Quasi-literature In The History Of All Men. . . . This Man, That Object Of Attention, Attack, And Vast Activity, Cannot Make Himself Be Heard, Let Alone Understood. He Has Never Been Listened To. . . . That Man Is Black And Alive In White America Where The Media Of Communication Do Not Allow The Delivery Of His Own Voice, His Own Desires, His Own Rage.

Maybe The Purpose Of Being Here, Wherever We Are, Is To Increase The Durability And Occasions Of Love Among And Between Peoples.

And Who Will Join This Standing Up And The Ones Who Stood Without Sweet Company Will Sing And Sing Back Into The Mountains And If Necessary Even Under The Sea: We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.

If You Are Free, You Are Not Predictable And You Are Not Controllable.