Raifa Chowdhury

Raifa Chowdhury
English/Psychology, Junior Year

A Deaf Man, A Blind Man & A Black Man

“My eyes hurt”
The Black man weeps
“My voice hurts”
The Black man croaks

“My ears hurt”
The Black man winces
“My heart hurts”
This Black man pleads

“Shush now, You’re making this harder than it has to be.”
The deaf man simply does his job
There is only efficiency
His performance is outstanding

His uniform is a pedestal
He becomes an unforgiving false God
No one of the true faith
Worships at his altar

Red, Blue, White with a plethora of stars
He wears them with such pride
You ask, how does he not know?
The origins of a beautiful pattern?

Red is the bloodstains of his ancestors
Blue is the sea of his centuries-old captivity
A reincarnation that never meets its peers
White, oh white

He wears that well
His paint of choice
A facade of purity
He’s forgotten his true face

And the stars?
They’re made of a thief’s jar
Stolen dreams, shredded families
And unfulfilled hopes
Once brightened souls

Whipped into sculpted machines

“We’re enslaved to life. All our lives matter.”
The blind man cries
See that?
The blind man weeps
False tears

Suddenly, the word white is synonymous with Black
So where are you, my white brothers in arms?
My mighty white sisters who despise leashes
What about the one around his neck?

The blind man says his friends will come
He can’t breathe
Yet the blind man, he only says his pain is the same
Even when all that falls is true and Black

Sorrow and Prayers carry his soul
But his legacy?
There is too much
Humanity to let it die

It is rekindled fire burning
Voices can’t be muted
Ears that cherish the harmonious sound of unity
Eyes that unravel the mirages

Hearts that beat for his freedom
See that, blind man?
We see him. We mourn him.
Hear that, deaf man?
We are his voices.

And he is Immortal.

And you’ll remember
We won’t let you wear your paint
We’ll peel, scratch, with our bare hands
Until you are mortal once more

And maybe even when left
Gasping
Crying
You’ll deny your sins

But you’ll remember
As we all do
In a carved wooden art
Every soul shares a piece of

When Black embraces you
And white can no longer save you
You will remember
You. Can’t. Breathe.