What Happens?

 WHAT HAPPENS?

What happens to the always defeated?

Do they fade away?

            (Marches for immigrant rights, 2006.)

Or do they rejoin the fray?

            (Occupy Wall Street, 2011.)

Do they return to fight another day?

            (Black Lives Matter, 2020.)

Or do they find some other way?

            (Rallies for Gaza, 2023.)

What happens to the always defeated?

            I want to know.

Langston Hughes asked

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

            Or does it explode?

And the always defeated?

            What happens to them?

                        Simply surrender?

                                    Give up?

            Or do they pick up the gun?