by Tatiyana James
Beneath the sky where the sun leans low,
Where the river runs with tales untold,
There is a heart that beats in silence, still,
South Carolina, with your winds so chill.
I’ve seen your beauty, felt your scars,
The quiet pain behind your stars.
How should we heal what time has torn,
When some have lived but not been born?
In fields of cotton, white as bone,
Ghosts linger where the crops were sown.
Do you remember their quiet cries,
Or do we turn away our eyes?
The past is heavy, like dampened air,
Yet we walk on, pretending it’s fair.
But the soil beneath our feet still weeps,
And the history we buried never sleeps.
How should we mend what can’t be said,
The blood, the chains, the lives long dead?
Do we just smile, pretend it’s gone,
While the weight of it drags on and on?
What of the hands that built this place,
Yet never saw a resting space?
We must remember to make it right,
To turn the wrong into the light.
In towns where the walls are breaking down,
Where factories close, and dreams are drowned,
How can we tell the ones who wait
That something better’s on its way?
They search for jobs, they pray for peace,
But all they get are slow release.
How do we stand in times like these,
When the future feels like shattered seas?
The children walk to schools that fade,
The books they hold are torn and frayed.
They dream in colors rich and wide,
But some are trapped before they’ve tried.
How can we tell them they’ll be great
When doors are closed by hands of fate?
We must do more than stand and stare;
We must lift them, with hands of care.
How do we heal a state that’s torn
Between the old and what’s reborn?
Where the flags that wave still bring divide
And silence takes the place of pride?
How can we learn to truly see,
That freedom's not just meant for me?
It’s for the ones who’ve never known
A home where love is freely shown.
Beneath the sweetgrass, green and still
There lies a promise, strong with will.
That we could rise, and rise again,
And build a place for every friend.
But first, we must acknowledge pain,
We must walk through the wind and rain.
To heal the wounds left deep inside,
To find a love that doesn’t hide.
South Carolina, can’t you see?
This is not just your history.
It’s every voice that’s never heard,
It’s every prayer, every word.
It’s every child, with hope so bright,
It’s every soul that’s lost its light.
We must be more than what we’ve been;
We must rebuild, we must begin.
For every house that stands alone,
For every heart that’s made of stone,
We’ll bring the warmth of something true,
We’ll turn the gray into the blue.
For all the hands that held the plow,
For all the heads that bend in bow,
We’ll build a future, hand in hand,
And walk together on this land.
And if the tears must fall like rain
To cleanse us of our deepest pain,
Then let them fall, let them flood,
Until they mix with earth and blood.
For only then can healing come,
When we atone for what’s been done.
South Carolina, rise again—
With love, with grace, with every friend.
About Tatiyana James
Tatiyana James is a senior at Ridge View High School in Columbia, where she credits her biology professor, Dr. Leticia Hardy, for inspiring her. The daughter of Tamara and Kevin Corley, Tatiyana plans to major in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of South Carolina. She enjoys community service and works as a tutor.