Once
There was a child
So lose 2 dying
The vultures were circling overhead
The villiage elder told his mother
Leave him
He's dead
But then before the child
Stood a warrior from a rival clan
He knelt down and held
The dying child's hand
Gave him water 2 quench his blistered lips
Careful 2 give but a few sips
And the child survived
Raised 2 believe all he learned was a lie
He swore vengeance on his family
An eye for an eye
And during a raid on his former viiliage
The descision was made
He sent his mother, father and brothers
2 an early grave
He kept his sisters alive
Girls like them were such a special prize
He watched stoically as warriors
Raped them
Igonoring the tears in his sister's eyes
And one day
He sat
Chewing kaat leaves
But before he even spat
He was ambushed by ghost men
Wearing foreign hats
In the hull of a ship
He survived by drinking rat's blood
And eating infant's S--T
Disembarking in a strange land
With alabaster hands
Forcing him 2 stand
Like a totem
Checking his teeth
And squeezing his scrotum
In this new land
He was shamed
Forced 2 work sun up 2 sundown
And learn a new name
From that day and beyond
His name would be
Son of John
He plotted
An escape
Feuled by warrior's pride
And intense hate
But learned much 2 late
He was betrayed
He was brought back 2 the plantation
Whips sang
Black skin flayed
And then there were
Rumors of war
Civil
Four was the score
He escaped and joined the Union Armyy
Vowing 2 be a slave nevermore
After the war's end
He was free
But chose instead 2 remain
In the Union Army
His fight 4 freedom was won
But America had a new decree
His sargeant called him
Johnson, my NI--G-R rover
2 the Native Americans
He was called Buffalo Soldier
And yes he was indeed fierce
Many bellies of pregnant women
Did he pierce
And when the West was won
He realized he could amass
A tidy sum
So he became Black Jack Johnson
The hired gun
His reputation was such
Even hard killers were afraid
The prostitutes were disgusted
Because he never bathed
But there was one
He loved her so much
He wanted her 2 have his son
One night
After a day of gambling and hard drinking
He made love 2 his favorite prostitute
Thinking
After we're done
I'll tell her she's leaving with me
After we're done
And then...
He fell alseep, awakened by the rising sun
And thru sleep eyes saw
His favorite girl holding his gun
She said quietly
With bitter tears in her eyes
My brother
THIS IS FOR MY FATHER AND MOTHER
..and so the story ends
For the Son Of John

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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.