Zoe Lafontant (14)
King
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
Let them
break our legs,
bash our heads,
but as swiftly as we fell,
we’ll rise.
Let them
shoot us in the back and
watch the blood seep into the ground,
but, as long as they keep firing,
we’ll keep moving.
Let them strip us
of our bronze skin,
down to the blood and bones
we share,
but we’ll show them the power
embedded in our minds because
You can’t break the wings
of a bird and expect it not to sing.
You can’t shoot the king and
cower at the presence of his army.
You get the riots and the rebellions,
the unrest and the uproar,
because you can’t kill the king
when he lives in all of us.
Zoe Lafontant, at age 14, has been writing short stories and poetry since she was in third grade and has always had a passion for it. She sometimes listens to music to help the inspiration, and she also reads other poets such as Langston Hughes for interesting rhyme schemes or ideas.
King
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
Let them
break our legs,
bash our heads,
but as swiftly as we fell,
we’ll rise.
Let them
shoot us in the back and
watch the blood seep into the ground,
but, as long as they keep firing,
we’ll keep moving.
Let them strip us
of our bronze skin,
down to the blood and bones
we share,
but we’ll show them the power
embedded in our minds because
You can’t break the wings
of a bird and expect it not to sing.
You can’t shoot the king and
cower at the presence of his army.
You get the riots and the rebellions,
the unrest and the uproar,
because you can’t kill the king
when he lives in all of us.
Zoe Lafontant, at age 14, has been writing short stories and poetry since she was in third grade and has always had a passion for it. She sometimes listens to music to help the inspiration, and she also reads other poets such as Langston Hughes for interesting rhyme schemes or ideas.