Unshackled
Ryene Fenner
As long as hands are in the air
they know retaliation is lifeless,
like the lack of melanin in their skin.
In the brightest hues of honey to the darkest tones of cocoa
lies a power to be feared.
Melanin is not a veil prescribed by the colorless;
it is a cloak of armor enameled with gold by God.
The fabric of our beings has been
woven together by strength and persistence
that have been threaded through the veins of royalty.
We were not bound by the ankles
to become warp and weft into
news stories of the slain and broken.