Winner of Grand Prize for Writing,
Martin Luther King Jr. Student Competition 2008

Melissa Marfell, Santa Teresa High School:

“ The poem I wrote was from a quote assigned to us for the competition, and that’s where we did the writing, multimedia and art. The quote this year was: ‘Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of racial justice.’  I did my poem about that, so…

I see you standing over me watching as I struggle in the quicksand.
I am trapped, I fight and I sink.
There is a suffocating darkness filled with their voices
Calling me, taunting me, surrounding me with their hate until I hear you

“Now is the time…”

A sliver of light breaks from the surface, shines down
And the horrors of racism are illuminated for all to see.
I feel their hands icy and rough, violent and unforgiving pull me
Down, dragging me further into oblivion.

“…to lift our nation…”

The beam of light spreads and those who live in the darkness flee.
Still, their voices cry out, but yours resonates through the abyss.
I reach out for your hand to help me, to guide me
But they yank me back down.

“…from the quick sands of racial injustice…”

Their anger and mine clash and I fall
But just when I’m beyond the reach of anyone you grab my hand.
They try to keep me down, but your words and your strength are far greater.
I rise up, leaving the hatred and the darkness behind as my feet touch the ground.

“…to the solid rock of racial justice.”

I see I am not the only one who has struggled,
So many now emerge from the darkness into the sun.
We are all so different, but stand on a common ground,
Once individual grains of sand, now one united stone.
It was not easy, but we were all able to change from sand to rock.