Red and Blue

Red and Blue

are the colors we built a country from,

Red like the blood we spilled for freedom

Blue like the clear skies we keep reaching for

but also

Red like the wounds of those we forced to plow our fields

Blue like the tears we spilled watering our fields 

then Stars strewn across like the ones in our eyes

as we looked past our mistakes to the sky-scraper silver heavens

never down at the oppressed

always up, always higher

we are a country built on Red and Blue

colors that unite and divide us all at once

Democrat, Republican

Liberal, Conservative

focused on complicated policy and power politics that end in meaningless conflict

Red and Blue

colors which once linked us 

have become chain-links

heavy, too heavy

weighing us down

that hill we need to climb

we haven’t climbed it 

we can, but we won’t, 

not while our backs are weighed

by prejudice

by intolerance

by hate

still the colors we built from

brim and burst with potential

Red and Blue

like an early-morning sky 

filled with scarlet clouds  

and splashes of azure

beauty birthed from new beginnings

now is the time to

honor those we exploited

heal those wounds we left open

break the chains that hold us

and start anew 

waving high a united flag of

Red and Blue.