On bended knee

When I was a child my parents taught me
To humble myself and pray on my knee.
A reverent position for supplicant love
Surrendering all to our God up above.

Humility, honor, homage, and praise
Lower yourself your spirit to raise.

We kneel for communion, we kneel to propose.
We kneel at a graveside - by those in repose.

Submission, surrender, love, mourning, respect.
These are the symbols that kneelings project.
Except on a sports field, where some, ill at ease,
Believe them skewed one hundred eighty degrees.

So why do they think that in just this one case
A knee bent in sorrow is so out of place?
A knee meant to humbly cast light on a cause,
A silent, respectful act meant to give pause.

A voice for the voiceless society’s lost.
Knees bent from a burden to curtail the cost.
The knees of these players bear powerful weight
An act of concern somehow whitewashed as hate.

No, kneeling is not disrespectful, you see.
Ignoring its purpose? Well, that just might be.