I am proud to say
I have learnt to love myself

Last night in the deepest slumber
My mind forced upon me a sight
A terrifyng thing gave me a fright
A cruel and effective vision
Presentation of true value
By stripping it of it's purpose

Upon strolling by the lake
I saw a body in the water
A young woman, picture perfect
Stripped of her clothes
Floating, skin all blue
Did you fall and drift away
Did you get caught in the stream

I ventured in to the water
Cried over the loss of her life
A young woman
Isn't anyone looking for her
Where is everyone
Did you come here alone
Did you do this to yourself
I looked around adjusted my eyes

I took in great big stones
Covered by moss
A few of those on the beach
Branches fallen from trees
Nature's waste washed upon the shore
Then I looked closer
Is that a leg sticking out?

Then the reality hit me
The girl in the water
Was just one of the many
She must've drifted off
From the hundreds
Massacred and sterilized women on beach
Piled up like firewood

What a crime, for shame
What a loss, there aren't enough tears
They were used up and tossed
A momentary release
Of a monster within the perpetrator
Possibly looking for it's new victim
Behind my back for all I know

As if there is an infinite stock
As if their existance and growth
Could happen over night
As if It didn't take love and care
To ensure their wellness
As if two people didn't work
Tirelessly to raise their children
To shape the people they were going to be
As if they didn't have paths to walk
Friends to meet and destinies to fullfill
As if God hadn't given them any meaning at all

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
     I heard a ***** play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
     He did a lazy sway . . .
     He did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
     O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
     Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
     O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that ***** sing, that old piano moan--
     "Ain't got nobody in all this world,
       Ain't got nobody but ma self.
       I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
       And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more--
     "I got the Weary Blues
       And I can't be satisfied.
       Got the Weary Blues
       And can't be satisfied--
       I ain't happy no mo'
       And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

i might be an amateur
i may not know everything
but i know sense when i see it,
and this sure ain't it
You can't tell someone
to leave someone
if he's with someone else
when you are the someone else
someone else
is with
when i say so,
she twists up her face
i want to show her
my report card
my straight A's in chem II, sat score 2175,
my honor roll certificates
and my history fair ribbon
(third place)
i may not know much about the complex world of grown ups
but i know right when i see it
and this sure ain't it.....

rose's are red
violet's are blue
i have 5 fingers
and the middle
is for
you!!!

As I lie in the refuge of my bed
I wondered
**Where do broken hearts escape?
Where do tired souls go?

Sometimes you don't give up for yourself
But for the people who never gave up on you