We Can’t Sleep

First off, this is dedicated to the life and legacy of Breonna Taylor. Secondly, it is a call for Black folk who been sleeping to wake up.

we can’t sleep because 

she can’t sleep 

eyes like brown

skin like me

she was resting her wearied body and 

her wearied soul

so tired 

a special tired we’ve all come to know 

after work, faces masked metaphorically too and questions asked 

facing age old tests designed for us not to pass 

a day in the life of being Black

she was tired

we’re all tired at the end of the day 

she lay in her bed she rested her head in

the comfort of her own home 

because home is all we got these days we’ve all come to know 

her last night at home she bled from her bed 

not in sleep but in death she 

was sleeping while they were knocking

down her door

guns blazing in the middle of the night 

in the middle of the dark 

it’s amazing that folks who look like me are saying that it’s her fault 

eyes like brown 

skin like me 

she was sleeping

and you been sleeping too

but your sleep ?

damn, your sleep really is a crime 

blaming her for the people she knew

blaming her for the streets and the crew

blaming her for something she had nothing to do

with

drug dealers and the wheelers and the dealers

people we know, people we love

even when we don’t agree with what they done done 

maybe she loved one, maybe she knew many

I don’t really care because 

she should still be here and the cops still shouldn’t have been there 

in the middle of the night 

a slaughtered queen, a snuffed out life

you would know it ain’t right 

if only you knew yourself

if only you knew

but you don’t because 

you been sleep