(morning)
How you sleep boy?
yeah(old man laughs) there's a mighty good breeze
blow thru dat back room
I outta know
hell, everytime I had little 2 much 'shine
Bessie made me sleep back dere
siddown, went 2 the sto' got somma dat trukey bacon
(old man laughs) I knows it's progress when black folk
can DECIDE what they wanna eat!
looka heya(old man points 2 T.V.)
they been talkin bout dat boy who kilt dem mens
in dat beer place
Lawd, Lawd every life is precious but cyan't no body
feel what a black man feel when his pride is hurt bad
on-li-est thang 'tween him and us is we die on the inside
so's we don't kill nobody
(finished breakfast) you ready ta start?
cyan't git use 2 dat damn camera you pointin at me(old man laughs)
see, what Bessie, God rest her Soul
never knew was, when I was a young boy
I had dreams, sho nuff I did
dreams of gettin outta heya
dreams of goin 2 da big city and gettin one a dem good payin jobs
up in de factory and thang
but DAMMIT when dem boys died
well, the part of me I couldn't afford to give up died too
now, wasn't like I par-tic-ular-ly liked dem boys
hell, I knew dey was headin fo trouble
1st day dey got down heya
but, like dem folks dat boy kilt dey ain't deserve 2 die
boys wasn't but fo-teen or fif-teen years old
see, I felt dat me and the colored mens should'a done sumthin
hell, maybe attacked dat mob the way they was attackin dem boys!
we all had shot guns and the way I figured it
we ALL should'a been some dying MUTHA-HUBBAS dat nite
but, we didn't do nothin...I didn't do a daym thang!
so, like I said, when dem boys ex-pired I re-tired...from life
just gave up my dreams
now, I ain't neva become no bum, no Sir
I raised my youngins, saw dem off 2 college
dey always wanted me 2 move way from Mr. Rollins farm
the memories and all, but, I sayed, felt I had 2 for some reason
woked till I got 2 old..Bessie died(old man shakes head)
ole Mr. Rollins and his Missus died, left me dis plot in dey will
S--EET! I mean left me dis land dat dog S-IT would'nt grow on
if ya buried a dog with da RUNS!(old man laughs hard)
gotta forgive me boy, I gets a kick outta thangs
hell, I AIN'T BUT AN OLE MAN
but..boy I'm so, so tired
my life been long..and I been TI-DE a long time
seem like since da day I was born, maybe befo' dat
what I means is..MY ROOTS IS TIRED
ans everytime I commence ta plantin my roots
in land good for growin I ended up wit land like dis heya
land dat ain't good 4 a daym thang..but dying
but, like God say we is ALL from the dust
well, not ALL of us..some of us is from da good soil
and the diff'rence 'tween good soil and dust
is the dif'rence 'tween livin an dyin
we black folk been dyin a long time cuz alls we eva had
was dust 2 plant seeds in
some seed blow away, like you 'n my youngins
and find good soil 2 grow in
and some start in good soil but git choked by weeds
like C.C. and Miss Rossum boy
and some seed just stubborn as heyall..das what kinda seed I is
don't matter much now though
I AIN'T BUT AN OLE MAN
stopped drinkin so much while ago..just a taste now and den
so, I'mma tell ya when St.Peter open dat do'
I'mma walk in ta Hea-bun tall 'n PROUD!
yes I is and you wanna know the first-est thang I gonna do
when I enter dem gates?
ain't gonna speak to Bessie, no Suh!
ain't even gonna greet Jesus..no...no
(old man chokes up)
I'm gonna walk right ova 2 Charlie Cyde and Ms. Rossum boy
hug em TIGHT
and say(hardly getting words out)
boys....I...AM....SORRY!!
I'M..SO..VERY..SORRY!!
(tears and tears, both he and I, 2 men from different times yet sharing the same pain..Lawd, Lawd why thangs gotta be the way dey is?!?)
camera OFF!!
FADE 2 BLACK..THE END(or is it?)

All Poetry by D.Greaves/Darwin Greaves by D.Greaves-Darwin Greaves is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at dgreaves.posterous.com.
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