Vote

It’s not a hug, or a toy at Christmas

It’s not a colored egg at Easter

Or a bunny hopping across the meadow

It’s a vote, saying you are a citizen

Though sometimes it is traveling and sometimes a no.

It can be male of female

It can be right or left

I can disagree

But I am a citizen

I should be able to vote from prison

I should be able to vote from the battlefield

I should be able to vote when I get my driver’s license

I should be able to vote when can I purchase a gun

When I’m in the hospital

Or the old folk’s home

Or if I need a ride to the polling place

I am a citizen

I must be able to vote.

Folks were lynched

Folks were shot.

Folks communities were gerrymander

Folks who believed in the Constitution were lied to 

Burned out, bought and sold because

They agreed that all men and women were created equal.

Folks vote to make us free

It’s not cookies or cake

But it is icing that is so sweet

Good for us, my country tis of thee.

Written By Nikki Giovanni