Dream With Me

         Dream With Me


The years of mirrored point of view,
         In bigot pulpit’s pious pew,
Reverse the progress we have made --
         Oppress our people; retrograde.

A cornerstone of our great land,
         Equality or reprimand;
But hate and racism pervade,
         Through southern pockets retrograde.

Last night I sat beside a friend,
         Whose words to my ears did offend.
Between the silenced debts unpaid --
         I gaped at discourse retrograde.

This year our nation saw The Dream
         come true to boost our self-esteem
My friend’s smug attitude must fade
         Release antique stance retrograde.

Emerge from direst straits ensured,
         Let color-blindness lead the herd;
Look through the skin; don’t be afraid –
         And preach ideals non-retrograde.




[Author's Note: This poem is a Kyrielle, a French form written in quatrains. In a Kyrielle, each quatrain contains a repeated line, phrase, or word as a refrain, in this case the word retrograde. Following the guidelines of the Kyrielle, the lines are octosyllabic and written in iambic tetrameter. Dream With Me uses the traditional Kyrielle rhyme scheme aabB, ccbB, ddbB, etc., with B containing the repeated word.]