Hearing you humm a Spiritual while
Preparing breakfast on a Sunday morning
I've got 2 believe that's when my
Love of God started forming
Pop moaning about so many bills
Telling hin you'll work more overtime
Simultaneously curing my stomach ills
Once, there was a case of mistaken identity
The cops came for me
I remember you blocing them at the door
With just your body
I LOVE YOU MAMMA
Yes I do
Wouldn't have become the man I am
WITHOUT YOU
You took a trip across the water
Without a winter coat
Landed in the middle of a Philly winter
Alone, tired and broke
Scrubbed floors 4 rich people
Until blisters formed on your hands
Saved for 3 years so you could
Send for your clan
I didn't know who you were
So I hid behind my brother
Daddy said boy that's your mother
You left Barbados when I was 6 months old
First question I asked was
Why are your hands so cold
I LOVE YOU MOMMA
Yes I do
Wouldn't have become
The man I am
WITHOUT YOU
I remember you walked around the corner
With a machete when Horn assaulted my brother
Had Horn and his boys all diving 4 cover
You walked like a Queen
When your eye was a swollen wreck
I started cussin out Daddy
You slapped me and shouted
BOY HAVE RESPECT!
Now daddy had a stroke
Can't speak
His body weak
I see you washing his body
Making sure he does a potty
And help him 2 his feet
Remember when I asked
Mom, how can you love this hater
You said,
I MARRIED YOUR FATHER
BUT MY VOWS WERE 2 THE CREATOR
Thru sickness and health
Momma,
There is no amount of wealth
That could describe you..you are PRICELESS
I LOVE YOU MAMMA
Yes I do
I wouldn't have become the man I am
WITHOUT YOU

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.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://dgreaves.posterous.com/pages/dgreaves-tos
.