When I Dream by Elizabeth

Elizabeth's classes recently have been really great.  Last Saturday she got to go to a writing workshop with Clarence Jones, the author of Martin Luther King, Jr's famous I Have a Dream speech and for the last 2 Thursdays, she has been working with Jonathan B Tucker on the following poem that she will be reading in this program:

When I Dream 
By Elizabeth

When I dream I'm free
I soar away from reality
I leave my chains and shackles
I escape, I run
I flee from the pain, the hurt
I hide from the hate and the mocking voices
i forget the fear
I speak my mind
I raise my voice in the choir of the oppressed
I n the world, my name is Slave
I am nothing but an object
Abused, mistreated, unloved, uncared for
My hands hurt, my back aches, my legs tremble
My family torn away from me
My parents sold, my sister given away
No one cares about who I was
No one cares about who I wanted to be
In the world I only have one future
But when I dream, I'm free
I can run as far as I want
I can eat as much as I want
I can have the childhood I always wanted
The one they took away
The one they left back in Africa
Along with my joy and happiness;
My hopes and dreams
When I dream I am home
Home with my friends
Home with my family
Home where I am a person
When I dream I dream for the little boy down the road
I dream for teh little girl two towns away
I dream for the brothers and sisters
The mothers and fathers
And I dream for the owners
That they no longer hold us here
That they see with our eyes
In the world, I am a slave
I am a caged bird, I am a tethered dog
But when I dream I am free!