Never have two words uttered hurt me more
Than when I heard them say, "bless you"
Words that held me more than I deserved
Whispering in my ear with spurn and commune
When I was raised I came face to face
With another whose life was balled and chained
To bright eyeliner, dark stockings, and lace lingerie
And when I saw what was lost, I lost what was gained
As a youth I ate captain crunch and played tunes
In the mornings and in the evenings on TV
I would eat fruit loops and see you on the news
As you held my family hostage while smiling
Still you uttered to me many blessings
Still you would hold onto me and start to sing
As my mother did my ***** laundry
And I snuck into her purse for money
When I knew she was fighting everyday
To provide for my brother and me
But you dwelled within my ways
So it didn't matter if we had electricity
And I held all of that power
When I had once begun to scour
For freedom of several hours
That came from drugs and wet towels
Wet towels from *** with a girl unnamed
The same girl who was held by ball and chain
To bright eyeliner, dark stockings, and lace lingerie
And when I saw what she lost, I lost what was gained
So I started searching for a new free
It wasn't in my drugs or mamas money
It wasn't in that girls love or on the TV
So I searched for the clarity in me
Trying to recall the truth, behind "bless you"
Why would you bless this sinful youth
I suppose at some point I was expected to
Rise up above you in order to bless you too
In this new found reality
I saw where the angels weep
I found your book flowing
On the love inside of me
It contained your initials of B.B.
It gained my tears that would bleed
Through each and every sheet
Of your words and your beauty
Your thoughts and your dreams
Were simply hiding and hoping,
Waiting on me
To spread my wings and be free
To remember the beauty in the fruit loops, the drugs, and the laundry
To remember the beauty in the girls eyeliner and in the electricity
Because this is where poetry sleeps.