The Kite and The Hawk
Man is no longer alone in the universe! The day I found the hieroglyphic formula For happiness for all mankind I had to promise to give it away. It is we have to find a way For everyone to have one more of something Than your neighbor has For you—here is a dollar! And for you, I feel warm brotherhood And love intense Beyond what anyone has ever felt before. You didn’t think I’m going around And giving everybody money? For me The syllable of antique power To shift the Light above Enough to cast the second or third shadow The Grand Prize In the lottery of loneliness.
Credit
From Dancing on Main Street by Lorenzo Thomas. Copyright © 2004 by Lorenzo Thomas. Published by Coffee House Press. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
Author
Lorenzo Thomas
Lorenzo Thomas, a key figure in the Black Arts Movement, was born in Panama City, Panama, on August 31, 1944. Thomas moved to New York City with family in 1948. His father, Herbert Hamilton Thomas, a pharmacist, was originally from St. Vincent. Thomas’s mother, Luzmilda Thomas (née Gilling), was a Jamaican-born Costa Rican who worked as a community activist. Thomas was raised in a Spanish-speaking household. He became fluent in English while growing up in the Bronx and Queens.
Date Published
01/01/2004