60,000

There are currently 60,000 human trafficking slaves living in the U.S. (2013)

Slavery is alive today.
Knowing this my heart breaks
slavery is slavery no matter who it chains
how far have we come, truly?

I carry the burden
of a sinful past
made mine through time

A mask white yet
blood ridden
a mournful memory unspoken
was once in motion
For an entire race of humanity.

When the dying embers
of racial unrighteousness
had logs full and fuming

There were those who lay beaten and broken
crying out into a muggy starless night

God have mercy
on my soul, let me go
deep into the river waters
far from this land of hell
I will only know

God have mercy
let me be
silently swallowed whole
by murk and muck

free at last
seeing no color

just black.

If only slavery ended
with that.

Photo: I took this photo in 2016 at Quechee Gorge State Park, my friends and I found a marsh to the side of the hiking trail we were on and found this grove of otherworldly ferns.