to MLK jr.
Now rock the boat to a fare-thee-well.
Once we suffered dreaming
Into the place where the children are playing
their child's games
where the children are hoping
knowledge survives if
unknowing
they follow the game
without winning.
Their fathers are dying
back to the freedom of wise children playing
at knowing
their fathers are dying
whose deaths will not free them
of growing from knowledge
of knowing
when the game becomes foolish
Lorde utilizes the metaphor of “children playing” to describe how society is currently being run. Seeing as Lorde’s issue with society is the discrimination towards women and groups that are non-White, that is a serious matter to be comparing it to child’s play. That contradiction is used to emphasize the problem with society – discrimination is being taken too lightly. Yet the first line says “their fathers are dying”, referring to the past generation of society run by men, and now we have the “freedom of wise children playing.” Lorde may be expressing some hope that society may improve for the better as we’ve grown smarter now. However, once again Lorde writes “their fathers are dying whose deaths will not free them”, meaning their may be some things from the previous generation that still linger within the current society, implying that even as we move forward, people may not be able to break away from ideas of discrimination.
Rites of Passage