I once stared into the future
with a mypoic vision,
crisis tried intervention,
didn't need added drama
never gave him permission,
I don't wax like this for purity of the art,
the purity of my heart
is my admission,
I'm seeing lots of so-called men
but when it come to their women,
they missin'
You gotta know Brother D'ee ain't big on wishin'
or flounder fishin'
I just drop gems with hope whoever
need the spark will listen
I'm seeing too many brothers
having head on collisions,
no true statistics for death's dimension,
we once built the foundation for the world
now we're facing demolition,
cats going to the penitentiary,
being resold into slavery,
with no hope for abolition
I had a misgiving,
when I was a teen one Thanksgiving,
guess you can say it was apprehension,
but before I was apprehended,
I dropped to my knees and begged Allah for redemption,
now I wonder,
how many young princes gonna wish later on
they had a 401k and a pension
I'm not a teacher,
or a preacher,
don't have a 10 step intervention,
I'm just sayin'
Black Man, take a look at Black History
Before and after the Mayflower
PAY ATTENTION!
I kiss my sleeping daughter every opportunity,
you will never see Brother D'ee,
disputing my paternity,
like them punk azz cats using diplomatic immunity,
as a father and a man,
hell yeah I will face the scrutiny,
because see,
if you act like a slave, think like a slave, breathe like a slave,
you can't start a mutiny,
you will be on the Amistaad,
heading to a new port,
no menthol,
just on a crawl,
with the world using every way possibly,
to call you a Nigger with impunity
True fact,
long as I walk proud and Black,
ain't nothing the world can do to me,
like Huey P.,
said when he was shot fatally,
you can kill my body,
but you can't kill my soul,
a.k.a. my destiny
So,
whether I am destined
to die in my sleep
or at the business end of a Smith and Wesson,
I ain't stressin'
truth be told,
it don't matter,
and if I ever sell out the Black esthetic
I'd rather,
it be the latter
KILL ME RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
CAN'T BLAME THE ECONOMY,
FOR YOUR INFAMY,
ALL THIS TALK ABOUT HOW THE WHITE MAN IS TO BLAME,
FUCK A VIOLIN,
SHYT, I HEAR A SYMPHONY,
A WHITE MAN CAN'T MAKE YOU SPEAK BLASPHEMY,
AND COMMIT FELONIES,
FACT IS, YOU DEEP IN THE ACT OF POLYGAMY,
MARRIED TO BOTH ALLAH AND THE DEVIL,
BLACK MAN,
TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP AND HAVE AN EPIPHANY
I never eat where I shyt,
don't have the time to Twitt,
never lead with my dyck,
on Facebook,
ain't using no old pic,
from my high school or college yearbook,
Hell, I am proud of my age,
being 45 back in the Mali Empire
would have made me a sage
I didn't gain this knowledge
from college textbooks,
when I was 12 I got a free library card,
read about,
MALCOLM, MARTIN, MEDGAR, CARTER G.,
W.E.B.
W.D. FARD,
ELIJAH AND MUHAMMAD ALI,
AMERICAN TYRANNY,
DON'T TREAD ON ME,
I was hooked,
born in Barbados, raised in Philly,
the home of cheesesteaks,
no breaks,
brotherly hate,
Central, Bartram, U. City, Girl's High, West Catholic and Overbrook
These streets will leave ya hooked,
thinking you're a king,
but you a pawn in the game,
not even a rook,
or a bishop,
THAT MOVIE JUICE?
shyt, I will always love Tupac,
but the fact is he forgot,
so he got shot,
out here directors don't yell cut,
you act like a gangsta, you die like a gangsta,
all over but the cryin'
TIME'S UP!
Never had a beef with a neighbor,
I don't have the temperament,
to waste time spent,
plotting on some unsuspecting fool later,
I was born in hell,
raised up by God,
right now and hopefully forever,
God's influence will be greater,
I will help my community out of straight kindness,
but, I don't do favors,
if you want to ride with the pack,
later for that,
I told you to be braver
The way I see it,
you're a traitor,
selling your soul, a waste
of your momma's 9 months of labor,
if you ain't got the heart,
to escape the dark,
don't come begging to me,
I'm not a defibrillator,
tried to tell you the devil is a manipulator,
I tried to be a translator,
now look at you,
in a hospital bed needing a ventilator,
to watch the Sixers play Kobe and the Lakers
So many brothers dying,
I need a calculator,
watching helplessly as legislators,
repeal civil rights acts,
devolving from,
AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO AFRO TO BLACK
TO NEGRO TO COLORED TO NIGGER,
a mental rigor,
mortis,
I can't force this,
down your throat,
dope or hope,
you decide,
ride or die
Dying is easy,
bloated bodies float,
and, if by chance you survive,
better believe it's all a hoax,
inmate 9-45789 will be pantiently waiting
for you to drop the soap,
or elope,
or sell you for smokes,
or slash your throat,
or let his crew get up, for the downstroke,
no joke,
until you kill yourself using a bedsheet
as a rope,
WHITE SHEETS AND ROPE,
DAMN!!!!
PAPER READING, BLACK MAN KILLED SELF,
DIDN'T NEED THE KLU KLUX KLAN
AIN'T NO PROIMISE
OR GUARANTEE,
THAT BENDED KNEES,
GONNA EQUATE TO IMMEDIATE BLESSINGS,
IF YOU'RE A HABITUAL RETURNEE,
TO THE PENITENTIARY,
THEN YOU ARE A NOMINEE,
FOR SATANIC STRESSING,
JUST SOME WORDS FOR THE UNWISE,
NOT A PLEA,
I'M NOT CONFESSING,
BLACK MAN,
ONLY YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR DESTINY,
SO WHILE YOU ACTING SILLY,
TAKE A MINUTE AND REMEMBER ALL THE ANCESTORS
WHO DIED, ON THAT MIDDLE PASSAGE RIDE,
JUST SO YOU COULD POSSIBLY,
HAVE AN EPIPHANY
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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