Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Walking in Birmingham

I think about the blacks
walking for months in Birmingham.
Their tireless efforts,
mile after mile,
the eyes of whites on them,
the jeers,
the stares.
I think about their steadfastness,
their resilience,
their desire
to know equality,
to sit at the front of the bus
and see
what was coming.
It would have been so easy
to give up,
to lie down,
to let another year go by
and accept
the unacceptable.
But they held together,
and they believed
their day would come
and it did.
I think about them now
when I want to give up,
when I believe the road ahead
is too long
and that I won’t get there.
I think about the good shoes on my feet,
and my warm bed,
and how lucky I am
to not have to fight
the color of my skin.