Twelve Lines Undone
I.
It took years but he got it right, burning candles far into
the night,
Crushing blackberries for the ink, shaving reeds to help him
think
What to put down in the letter, his one chance to put back
together
His dignity stolen by smoother men, a naïve man that he was
then,
Found a white man he could trust, scratched his story in the
dust,
Smuggled the paper to his wife, won his freedom, seized his
life.
II.
Cursor, shift cursor, highlight the whole twelve years in
two strokes,
No time at all, time worth nothing, control A control X, all
undone,
Undo, redo, undo, coming back at you, this is just lazy man’s
game,
No skin in this game, no one gets whipped on if you are
discovered,
No price to be paid for changing your mind and saying well,
maybe
Slavery ain’t so bad, maybe I wouldn’t get lynched, who can
say?
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