There once was a time…
where I believed in believing.
In trusting, in knowing,
In honest receiving.

A time where families were families,
Bonded by the heart
And not just a house of separate entities…
Strangers, apart.

Where mothers were always right and could do no wrong,
Raising their young ones to be different, to be headstrong.

They taught their children the song
The song of a happy life.
One filled with morals and lessons
The cure for misery and strife.

Where fathers went to work and provided for their home,
Protecting their daughters from the monsters that may roam…
In the shadows of the sanguine, soliciting streets,
Or intertwined amongst the sneaky, perverse sheets.

A time where a hug and a kiss was enough
To encourage a child who was different, maybe not tough


A time where grandmothers were old,
Face ridden with wrinkles, creases and folds.
Telling and retelling textured tales of histories untold.

A time where people prayed and believed in God
Reverenced His name
In His temple were awed.

Where people were saved and miracles were seen,
The unclean were made clean,
The sick healed, no vaccine.

I believed in trusting and that if it was said, it was true
That no matter what happened, you would come through.
Loyalty was like royalty.
A pinky promise stuck like glue
Your honest word, at that time, is what made you YOU.

Oh, I did not forget –honest receiving-the last tidbit…
Where I could give you a compliment, a gift,
You voice your appreciation, and that’s it.

No hidden agendas, no ulterior motives
No “quid pro quo”…
…No “I didn’t even know”

To end as I began, there once was a time…
But those times are no more.
We are now in a time where working is too much,
Stealing and scamming from other people and such…

Now,  it’s easier and more attractive to be a *****.
Because being independent and righteous is too much of a chore.

Where being Black is a crime
Innocent people are in jail doing time.

Mothers are still daughters,
literally.
Males and females after their own kind – homosexuality.

Fathers are not present, and their sons grow to resent
Their mothers and selves as if they are at fault for these unpleasant events
.
Rumor has it, only the strong and the wise men survive,
Off the power of these type of memories,
That are prayed and relayed in efforts to be kept alive.

No one knows exactly what is to come next,
Life is surprising, confusing, and VERY complex.
But im hoping that a time will come again
Where it is common to love, to be a friend.
Where right is right, wrong is wrong.
Where we can all stand together, united…
And strong.

As I sit here in the dark,
It’s so silent…
But, at the same time, it really isn’t.

What exactly is silence when there is always n o i s e?
Of our minds
SCREAMING…yelling…constantly talking…
Verbally, mentally, and silently vocalizing the numerous, duplicitous details of our waking lives.

The mind never stops. Never shuts up.
And as much as I’d like it to, I can’t make it
As long as the body goes,
the mind reveals,
it revels, in the subconscious awareness of our obliviousness.

Is anything a surprise...
Or, do we always know?
But then again, what exactly is “knowing”?
When with one word, one action, one choice…
It can all be so different.
New. Changed. Non-existent.
And once again, we are left in the Unknown…(1 step forward – 2 steps backwards).
All the while, wandering ….wondering
Constantly searching for answers…
Seeking relief from the never ending “what ifs”,
the heart-piercing, perpetual mental lists of  “I should haves…”

There was a time when I questioned it all….
Repeatedly. Tortuously…to no avail it seemed
Until I somehow managed to create a world….
Founded on doubt, confusion, unfamiliarity, and F E A R.

It all began in my head. Simple enough..
That’s where it all begins, right?
This world throws all types of things at us to distract us…
To deceive us, to desensitize and dehumanize us.
To slowly, but surely, annihilate any bit of the God-given life that was once inside of us…
the original covenant of everlasting life, knowledge, and the desires of our heart.

Money.
Fame.
***.
Status.
Drugs.
Love.

It’s whatever is your particular fancy of ammunition…

You see, that’s the thing…
They let us choose.
….So we think..
Some call it Free Will, some call it Destiny…
or some simply call it, “Living Life”

They tell us we NEED this and we need to look like THAT.
So there we go, on a blind, circuitous pursuit to become something that never existed…
Til we are so completely absorbed in this twisted, delusional mirage of Life

… til it’s as if we, ourselves, never existed.
And the crazy thing is… some people never WAKE UP.

Yes, I said wake up.
As in realize that NONE of this is real.
Yet, it is merely the fictitious illustrations of the repetitious reels of our corrupted minds….
Our perverse and evil hearts.

which are both constantly evolving…steadily revolving.
Tainted by the high and forever-rising demands of this world…
Social media,
Music,
The arts.
Sports.
Friends….
and even family…

Little do we know, we are everyday loading the gun of “self-hatred”
….Filling it with little shiny bullets disguised as likes…views...followers.

Lighting the match and igniting the deadly and all consuming flames of “pride, bigotry, and greed”
Mine, mine, mine….
Destroying anything, or anybody, that tries to extinguish and destroy…

Holding, polishing, and aiming the two-edged knife of “insecurity, disloyalty, and ulterior motives.
Piercing the side of those we love.

When will this battle end?
When will the power of love, overcome the love of power?
They say that then we will know peace…
But to have peace, we have to have calamity…agitation…war.

Oh, the beauty of contradictions…

So far apart on the spectrum of life
Yet so strikingly similar.
Ying and Yang.

It’s a matter of life and death…
The absence of one creates the presence of the other.
and, the presence of the other, exemplifies the absence of the one.

And we know this…
Yet, we still choose to be destructive.
Why is it so much easier, seemingly, to do wrong than right?
Will the world ever know…?
So, with this paradoxical world we live in, how do we find stability?

Some find solace in drugs…
Some in love…
However, some find religion.
No scratch that – A RELATIONSHIP
…with a higher power …
One who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.
One who can guide our footsteps,
Eliminate all of the outside deceiving thoughts of “what if…” and “why’s”
“trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…”
That’s what the Word says, right?

…one who can give us stability of our mind and the desires of our heart.
Jeremiah 33:3 says, “call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things you do not know”

Sounds too good to be true, huh?
But so does, relief and recovery sold to you in a pill bottle from an institution set up to control…
The populations and masses…
The circulation of currency.
The separation of powers.

So, at the end of the day….it’s up to you whether or not you continue sleeping..
Continue wandering
and wondering,
Continue living this deceptive life created and composed by Those People..

Or you can choose to believe…
To have faith in something, someone….
Whatever it may be…
But, the choice is on you.
…or is it?