You owe him nothing but the act of procreation
This, you once said of your white father
You, a product of miscegenation
Not by consent, your mother's conceding
Birthed by God's Will
Light-skinned black baby girl
Swaddled and nurtured by community
Your eyes witnessed letters
forming words,
forming meaning,
forming destiny,
Growing into purpose
Studying the Pedagogy of the Liberated
Leaning on bookshelves
Sitting at desks,
Prim and Proper
Adorned in Victorian digs
Scribing by candle light
the next lesson,
the next essay,
the next speech,
the next letter,
Digesting words that danced to the rhythm of hope
For you and yours
Focused in your truth with an ever-evolving mind
Fed by logic, emotions, morality and resilience
Standing with a lioness’s courage
Against intellectualism defined by black patriarchal giants
You owe them nothing
Strong against the fiery darts
from the mouths of men and women
carrying flaming torches of hatred
Extinguished only by righteous indignation
You owe them nothing
Championing Literacy: A gate way to the world
From these teeming shores
To Paris, PhD bound
The place that gifted the black woman of liberty
Draped in humanity
Polished with womanhood
A wisdom filled purse
And
handkerchiefs laced with virtue
A century of life you gave
Dispensing wisdom from your heart
To be discovered by generations to come
You owe nothing
Yet we owe you