Don't Kill Dub (Poem by Sonia Sanchez)

Sometimes I wonder, What to say to you now in the soft afternoon air as You hold us all in a single death I say "Where is your fire?" I say "Where is your fire?" You got to fight it and pass it on You got to find it and pass it on from you to me From me to her from her to him from the son to the father From the brother to the sister from the daughter to the mother From the mother to the child I say "Where is your fire?" I say "Where is your fire? Can't you smell it?" Coming out of our past The fire of living not dying The fire of loving not killing The fire of blackness not gangster shadows Where is our beautiful fire that gave light to the world? The fire of pyramids The fire that burned through the hulls of slave ships And made us breathe The fire made guts into chitterlings The fire took rhythms and made jazz The fire sit-ins and marches that made us jump boundaries and barriers The fire that took street talk and Sounds and made righteous impulse tech raps Where is your fire, the torch of life, Full of Nzinga and Nat Turner and Gandhi and Dubois And Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin and Malcolm and Mandela Sister, sister, sister, brother, Brother, brother, come, come, come, come, come, Catch your fire, don't kill Hold your fire, don't kill Learn your fire, don't kill Be the fire, don't kill Catch the fire and burn with eyes that see our souls walking, singing, Yeah building, laughing, learning, yes loving, yes teaching, being, Hey hey hey hey hey young young young brother Hey hey hey young young young young sister Here is my hand, catch the fire And live, live, live, live, live, live, live, live...