Spoken Word: ‘Rise Up for Your Heart’ by Esmeralda Benitez
ESMERALDA BENITEZ 2ND PLACE SPOKEN WORD Rise Up for Your Heart
small beneath her high top ceilings enchanted by the cold stone
walls that never warms me
Her spires kiss the sky
Her stained glass windows
spill liquid
light that dances
on my skin
but never stays.
Her arches carry a softness
she withholds from me.
Her echoes preach devotion
She won’t give to
Her own child,
Color floods my body
but none of it stains me.
I am the child she forgets
yet I’m still in
Love with her:
A place called church.
I am becoming an adult
yet I feel like a neglected child.
The Church’s doors are
slammed in my face; and I scream “Let me in!”
But I am denied entry.
“Why won’t you let me in?”
I was convinced that
Its Beauty meant Belonging.
That I would
Rise with every hymn;
Every hand would raise me higher, until the hand didn’t.
until the hand pressed me
down and I fell
further than ever before.
“The Lord can’t love you” says the media and
I say, “why?” “why?”
I do unto others
as I want done unto me, and
according to the Bible,
you still Love me regardless.”
“Is it true you love a woman?”
I am judged.
I am silenced because
I’m afraid that that
they could be right
it could “cost me my soul.”
The church says
Love is patient,
Love is kind,
Love is good.
So I ask:
“Why does your welcome
come with a warning label?”
I am told to
Love my neighbor
as I love myself.
So tell me;
Where in the Bible does it say,
“Love your neighbor…
Unless
she looks like you,
Laughs like you,
Holds your hand like a prayer
you finally understand?”
Love is good so
Why is mine on trial?
Why is my heart cross-examined every time it beats toward a woman?
Who taught you that God
Retreats from the same love
he created? Who taught you that Holiness can’t Bloom between two women
who choose to love each other
49
with tenderness,
with truth,
with the kind of Devotion
you preach about
every Sunday?
Society says:
“If you love her, then leave.” And I say: “Leave what?”
The pews that raised me? The hymns that held me?
The stained glass that taught me how light can break open
just to be beautiful?
Society says:
“You cannot love her and
Love the Church.”
And I say: watch me.
watch me Rise and
Love her with
the same Fire you
claim comes from hell.
watch me Rise and
Love her with a
Faith that refuses
to be burned away.
watch me Rise and
Love her and still
walk through These Doors because this is our place too.
you push me down for who I love. you push me down for who I am. I no longer listen because Love is the ground
I Rise from
rather than your hate.
I know the Lord
is inviting me in because
His Love
My Love
Allows me to Rise up higher
towards a bigger future
He’s shaping for me.
“Forgive me, world for
what you name a sin; For
I stand here unashamed
because I love a woman.
no law
no lash
no cruel command
could strip the worth of
loving so freely.
I Rise for every
whispered kiss that
blooms in the shadows.
I Rise for those who
dare to dance with fire and
smile fiercely in
the midst of cruelty.
I Rise for those with
trembling hands
who dream of
Love in hostile lands.
I Rise for the ability to
Love who I want to Love because
Love isn’t conditional.
Love is Ours
And Ours is enough
So Rise up
for your Heart
12th Grade, Ánimo Jackie Robinson
Guiding Teacher: Rachel Kopera and Daniela Santuario
