Freedom From The Rope

Oh children gather around and take heed to the story you will hear,

It is the story of a girl who defeated societal pressures and fear:

No one wanted to hear her help me’s,

They wouldn’t even help her if she had the courage to get on her knees,

They wouldn’t even help her if she screamed please, help is what I need.

It was a sunny day when she tied a jump rope around her neck under the sturdy brown tree

She thought not one would see her cry or dare to hear her scream

She thought she was a tiny speck of dust not made to be seen.

I mean can you blame her? They wouldn’t even help her if she had the courage to get on her knees.

See while she was drowning and gasping for air,

Fifth grade Ayanna was fighting the feelings that provoked her to care.

Ayanna heard the lonely little girl screams and saw her drowning in the ocean,

But she was fighting the want to give that girl all her love and devotion,

Ayanna was fighting authenticity and emotion.

You see Ayanna was fighting the urge to do what was right

Her #1 goal was to be popular and well-liked

And the more Ayanna got in the boxing ring with humanity and tried to fight,

The agony and guilt came hovering over her in the middle of the night.

It came no matter how hard she tried to resist her inner light.

Then one day Ayanna finally decided to stop resisting and try persisting the very thing she knew she was missing.

She finally decided to listen to her heart and kicked the fear of being disliked and shunned out the door,

She looked at the lonely little girl’s bullies in the eye and told them no more,

She broke up with the crew of bystanders and said I know who I am rooting for.

Then she walked slowly but surely to the lonely little girl under the tree

And screamed STOP STOP STOP and begged, “Katie please, look at me”.

Why is that rope around your neck? Don’t you know you’re life is as precious as rubies and gold?

If anyone tries to tell you anything different, forget what you were told.

And as Ayanna talked, the unsure little girl loosened the rope around her neck, tears falling down her eyes,

She looks up at Ayanna in her moment of despair and screamed, “WHY TRY”?

What happened next some may think is a lie,

But the Ayanna sat down next to the girl while she continued to cry.

Then as time passed by something happened that was quite special and profound,

The sad little girl loosened the rope more and more until it fell on the ground,

And she stopped crying for a moment and there was not one single sound.

That day when Ayanna chose humanity and authenticity she was never the same,

Character assisnation and discluding people because they were different seemed kinda lame.

Ayanna lost approval from her peers but there was something better she gained,

A friendship that was full of laughter that was the medicine to each other's pain.

It was a sunny day when the lonely little girl tied a jump rope around her neck troubled by her strife,

But it was a sunny day for a blossoming friendship where the two girls decided to choose life.