IN RETROSPECT

First lessons were strange
Fruit trees growin' in
Jim Crow's back yard deep
Down South in Mississippi
When next
Chicago's son
Em Till took a sharp blow
To the head it
Jarred the collective consciousness
Of already down-trodden people
Who realized that something
MUST
Be done
NOW
Or the future reeked of
Blood flowin'
Of misplaced fear
And hatred