Those That Stood Ahead of Us

They stood ahead of us,
skin dark, strong limbs
bodies made of stone
they were taken in shackles
chained like beasts
and taught to bow
and beg,
they learnt to survive
though a cruel life
they learnt to be strong
from them i came,
my channel to the earth,
it is my forefathers
who saw to my African birth.
Their spirits linger and their
names
are said again and again,
echoed
in stories long,
screamed
in fables and folklore.

I know it was through them
that I came to be
from their bondage,
their hellish jails
I was granted heritage
and in my skin
my dark brown skin
the story is retold,
I am the daughter of
a slave's greatest grandson,
a slave's greatest grandson
fathered me,
a slave who lived as though
in the belly of a beast,
I am
directly linked through bone
and blood
to those who broke bone
and lost blood
fighting a fight that
wasn't their own

One day when I am older
and have brought life
to earth from my womb
I will tell my beloved
yes I will tell my young
of those that stood ahead
those that lead the way
those that fought
shackled and chained
the tale will pass from me to
them then them to
the next,
all generations to come
will know of those
who stood ahead.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wow! That is just on amazing poem! I loved the whole thing! I don't have any nitpicks but I have to admit I didn't think learnt was a word at first. I actually looked it up and found out you were right. That shows my knowledge of the English language. But I have to ask, Is this a tale of your personal heritage? Because this is one piece of work that years and years from now people would look back upon and think my ancestor wrote this about their ancestors and hold close. It makes any person from the African-American descent think back to what their ancestors went through. Though I don't have lovely dark skin (I'm as white as a sheet of paper), it made me think about my ancestry. You put your heart into this piece and I really love it! Keep writing!

-T

Hi, Sakin here. First of all, I'm in love with this! It shows how proud you are of your ancestors and such. There is one line, though, that I think might need to be changed.

...they learnt to be strong...

I think you mean 'learned' here.
Also, try to capitalize your I's, it makes your writing more mature looking, like you know what your doing.
That was all I saw, but I could be wrong and I could have missed something. Once again, I love this poem, it's amazing, and so are you. Keep up the good writing!

~Forsakinshadow~

helloo!
I want to start of with saying that this is a good write with a nice rhyme in it!
Some things I noticed:

They stood ahead of us,
skin dark, strong limbs
bodies made of stone
they were taken in shackles
chained like beasts
and taught to bow
and beg,
they learnt to survive 'learnt' should be 'learned'
though a cruel life I think 'though' should be 'through'
they learnt to be strong 'learned'
from them i came, 'i' should be 'I'
my channel to the earth,
it is my forefathers
who saw to my African birth.
Their spirits linger and their
names
are said again and again,
echoed
in stories long,
screamed
in fables and folklore.

I know it was through them
that I came to be
from their bondage,
their hellish jails
I was granted heritage
and in my skin, I think there should be a comma here
my dark brown skin
the story is retold,
I am the daughter of
a slave's greatest grandson,
a slave's greatest grandson
fathered me,
a slave who lived as though
in the belly of a beast,
I am
directly linked through bone
and blood
to those who broke bone
and lost blood
fighting a fight that
wasn't their own

One day when I am older
and have brought life
to earth from my womb
I will tell my beloved
yes I will tell my young
of those that stood ahead
those that lead the way
those that fought
shackled and chained
the tale will pass from me to
them then them to
the next,
all generations to come
will know of those
who stood ahead. Great end!

Other than that: nice work!
-qaralynn-