Always There Are The Children – Poem by Nikki Giovanni
and always there are the children
there will be children in the heat of day
there will be children in the cold of winterchildren like a quilted blanket
are welcomed in our old agechildren like a block of ice to a desert sheik
are signs of status in our youthwe feed the children with our culture
that they might understand our travailwe nourish the children on our gods
that they may understand respectwe urge the children on the tracks
that our race will not fall shortbut our children are not ours
nor we theirs they are future we are pasthow do we welcome the future
not with the colonialism of the past
for that is our problem
not with the racism of the past
for that is their problem
not with the fears of our own status
for history is lived not dictatedwe welcome the young of all groups
as our own with the solid nourishment
of food and warmthwe prepare the way with the solid
nourishment of self-actualizationwe implore all the young to prepare for the young
because always there will be children.