I dream a whole lot less lately,
It feels like my mind is in a whole
In a dark cold place, no light, no connection to my soul
I used to dream of paradise, a place where everyone could be free
I used to long for paradise, so I no longer had to be, what society makes of me, I wanted to take the labels off of me.

I dream a whole lot less lately,
Because in my dreams, darkness runs wild
There's no innocence in them, not even in the laughter of a child
In my dreams the rivers run dry, in my dreams arrows fill the sky
In my dreams blood, daily is shed, in my dreams the sky glows red
In my dreams, there is darkness, there is no sun. But I know even through all this, there will always be the father, yeshua, the son

Love shouldn't burn
It should spark
It should illuminate parts of you
Hidden in the dark

Love shouldn't be bottled
It should roam free
It shouldn't put chains
on the wrists of anybody

Love shouldn't hurt
Love should heal
It should never see you in a problem
And tell you to deal

Love shouldn't you without air
Love should leave you without a care
Love should always produce hope
Because in hope, we find a way
We cope.

Shoot me, You might as well, cause I'm a threat
A threat to your system, a threat to your net
profit and status quo, so pick up that gun shoot me and pray to the ground I go, and when you bury me you better call me a madman and pray that the martyrs don't grow

You may as well shoot me Mr.Police officer,
It may put your employers at ease
One bless black man with a heart of power
One less antibiotic to your disease
Don't forget to tell me I'm resisting, don't forget to tase me til I fall
Don't forget to choke me so those listening won't hear my struggles, my calls
Don't forget to have the media depict me as a ****, and a criminal and a menace to society
Don't forget to  reprimand and berate me
Remind  your older white listeners that my kind, my skin color
is still not considered American Propriety
But more like American property, disposable goods

So **** me, the cameras are recording but don't worry you'll get off free
Might be just a conviction but your *****'s new henchmen and ***** still got the key
A couple months paid administrative leave so you can sit on a beach, drink some ice tea
Mad that you can no longer put chains on our wrists so you put handcuffs instead
No longer pulling whips across our backs so you bury hot burning lead
No longer working your fields for all to see but instead privatized free prison labor with your warden holding the key.

Martin told me when he us that he had a dream
I got his same DNA in my bloodstream
And in every cell in my body I feel the effect, I teem
I boil I scream, when I see a black mother or father gunned down by police men and the children witnessing the death, the blood, the stream.....

I scheme, and when I sleep, I dream
And when I dream it's bad news for you
to avenge those we lost by crimes, undue
To put a stop to all of you.

I write because I am running out of time
Running out of time to make the world a better place
Running out of time so I must speak my words with haste
Out my mother's womb with a mind filled with questions and ideas
Filled desires and filled with fears.
Heart always racing,
Mind having a hard time learning to slow down so it's ticking to the sound of the metronome always pacing
As my soul creates the essence laid within the bullets and my lips provide the casing
My mind is the gunpowder and my heart is the trigger
I write my thoughts down, and I write like I'm running out of time
Certainly those before me had a song, had a rhyme but most did not change much
They ran out of sand, they ran out of time, and into death's hand
So me I write quickly, because I am running out of time
This world will know of me, they will know these words of mine

The best part of love is the smiles
The ones that say everything is going to be alright
Even on the coldest of a stormy night
Even through the shivers caused by fear and fright
Or the gloom caused by a devastating sight
A smile that says it will be okay
can be the catalyst turning grey into a sunny day
it's the smile before the kiss that takes your breath away
I think the smile you give me, is the best part of love.

In her kiss I tasted revolution
And it was sweet
Her lips are a battle
A war , wages on

Looking down into the valley from the mountain high
I can finally breathe again
I smell the fresh air and it smells like springtime again
I no longer fear for my soul,
No longer feeling the chill of imminent danger again

As I stand there looking at the forest below
I see the life I left behind me
I see the trees, the vines that tried to bind me
I see the leaves of the forest which hid me from the son, tried to blind me

I stand proud on top my mountain
I think about the snakes, the wolves that hissed and howled, told me that I'd never leave
That tried to take my joy every time I started to believe

The trees spoke, they said,
run run as fast you can, can you get out alive
will you fall or will you stand.
I burst through the last trees and I started to climb
No end in sight but to get away from my past it was time

The climb was nothing short of sublime
But anytime you begin to climb, physically and mentally prepare for it's wartime
All your old demons will call you, like your primetime on a hotline
See your past will not make it easy for you to be free....

But I get to the top, and what do I see,
all my old demons at the bottom, looking up at me
I turn around to embrace my new destiny amazed by what I saw
A whole new forest....waiting for me.

I've always let you back in
You were my favorite drug
You were my happy place
Beyond the clouds, with time and space
So I always let you back in
You always taste so sweet
but in my stomach felt like sin
But I keep letting you back in
I keep letting you back in

Growing up I always had my head in a cloud
Especially when learning about love
I was told it was the greatest feeling ever and
me I love great feelings so naturally I would pursue

It was a very young age that I learned that this thing called "love"
doesn't always love you back
It will cloud your judgement, break down your walls and before you know it you are under attack, under siege if you will,
It's very goal to break your heart, break your will
It's very goal is to steal, to ****.

I used to think love was a wild fire
A force that couldn't be contained
but demanded to be fed
A force that isn't easy to be controlled, and hard to be read

I used to think that love was a fire
with a blaze that burned to cinder, hearts unready,
with a match like tinder

My heart now burned, scorched and fading to ashes
I look at my battered soul, whipped by love look at all the lashes
I know now that love isn't fair
No words, no apologies could ever clear the air
No poem, no letter could ever pay the fare
couldn't cover the price of what you did,
or the secrets from me you hid

From the clouds they look over me
They protect me,  and of me, they know
Humble heart, big mouth and egotistical soul.
From the heavens they shine upon me
My roots draw strength from the rivers that flow
They do not cut me, my petals they do not show
They do not take me from the ground,  expose my glow
Because they know that uncut flowers don't get to grow.

They say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder
But sometimes I ask myself, how can this be?
Cause when I look with my eyes, I only start to feel resent
and I begin to despise, the things I realize like
how my women of color have been simplified, and hypserxualized
how the black woman's body has been used and abused and now
It personifies, sexuality and promiscuity, out of all the things media feeds us these are some of the worst lies
You see cause black women are queens, and when white culture saw their worth, they were rattled
They couldn't help but try to minimize and de-legitimize, and put a guise over the eyes of all that viewed her
She is not just a big ***, big lips or hips
She is the mother of humanity, in her essence from her hair, to lips to her fingertips she is a Queen, and she is to be respected.
And I will die for her honor, We will not go back into slavery days, I will not stand here while she gets up on stage naked and her body is dissected, and her soul, her essence neglected, her heart, her mind infected.
From these queens come the workers, the Kings, without the black woman we have no past and we have no future
We must protect the black woman, for she is sacred like scripture.

The black woman is more valuable to the earth than diamonds or gold
She is powerful, strong, she is fire providing warmth to those in the cold
The black woman is more beautiful than the sand in the Caribbean sea
Her eyes shine brighter than the red of a ruby
The black woman is the only one born with the capabilities of raising black boy to black man in America
The only one that has proven herself strong enough to brace the cold winds of slavery, systematic racism and oppression
The black woman, her heart divine, her soul connected to the divine
The black woman, her womb a mine of gold,  constantly being robbed
Lives constantly being stolen, We care about black lives outside the womb, but what about within. More lives being taken from us, what about our next of kin?
Why do we keep falling for America's sin?

What should love be?
The answer may elude thee,
But in the corinthians the 13th chapter it speaks clearly
Loudly the answer of what love should be

Love should be patient, and never complacent
But always adjacent to kindness
Love should be kind,
It should always give you peace of mind
In that peace of mind you should find no jealousy
Your insecurities should not control you carelessly
You should endlessly view this recipe as necessity because
allegedly love is not boastful but it is noble and vocal
But while vocal it does not speak of it’s own because it is not proud
It is not loud, it does not wear a shroud or talk highly of itself in a crowd
Because that isn’t acceptable , and love is not rude,
love is never crude, it would never intrude, always makes you feel renewed
This is why love should be pursued, because love is not self-seeking
It will never have you misleading, cause if you did you probably would be conceding, or overheating which wouldn’t work out because love is not easily angered, Because anger can have you sink like an anchor, have your eyes glowing reddish like amber, see love keeps no record of wrong. Love looks at you in your mistakes and sings a redemption song and hopes that you will song along. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, and love always protects, it will lay it’s life down, it would not make a sound, it will dive in after you, whether to swim or drown,

Love always trusts
Love always HOPES
Love always perseveres
And finally , Love Never Fails.

Hope,
This is how we cope, with a world that isn’t always so dope
Hope, is how we deal with those nights we can’t sleep
Hope is what makes the tears dry up, what brings us back after we weep
Hope is the key ingredient, sometimes expedient, but never deviant
Hope is the trumpet loud, hope is the roaring crowd
Hope is the crashing waves, hope is the cry of the slave
Hope is the wind in the sails, hope is not giving up when it fails
Hope is the mountain high, hope is the sun shining in the sky
Hope in the drought is the rain, hope is to walk through the pain
Hope is to stand in the fire, hope is to trust in something higher
Hope is the winds of change, hope is the beautiful exchange
Hope is the product of love, hope is after the flood , a dove
Hope…..because tomorrow is always brighter than today

On this here Microphone
I am Al Capone
A black man in America, Hero and Villain,
And I'm here to tell you a couple things I don't condone
I don't condone my young brother's and sisters being thrown
into a life of crime in a blue light zone where they're prone to being shot
or being beat with a baton that batters flesh and breaks bones
A boy on his way to school listening music on his headphones
Shouldn't have to be thinking about what inscription they'll put on his gravestone
And I thought America had hit a milestone, turns out my beliefs were overblown
No Heroes to call, they're all dead so why pick up the phone
Martin Luther King Jr is dead so why pick up the phone?

Black man in America, I've been a threat since day 1
And Oh I bet they have wet dreams of the day I pick up a gun
So they could throw me in jail, take my away my rights and try to derail
all my dreams, bring them crashing down like hail

It’s hard to speak healing and salvation to someone
If there body and minds are in chains
It’s hard to tell someone that God loves them when agony runs through their veins


See it’s hard to speak a message of spiritual salvation
When a person’s body is in need of physical liberation
When a person’s mind is in a state of starvation
When a person can’t feel connected to the land on which they stand cause it was once a plantation see….

It’s hard to teach somebody to be free
I hope that you can see, cause it’s true all the way from the America’s to the Caribbean sea.
People are in chains mentally and emotionally, broken physically
How can we stand behind the walls of a church and only intend to feed them spiritually ?

We are physical representation of God to the earth
How can we preach that our God is a God of liberation
And yet don’t go out there and fight to help set people free?
Don’t hold our oppressors to the door and tell them to turn the key
Tell our oppressors that we won’t just shut up and be see

The church has always been a major part of who we are as a people
But it seems that some shepherds were sleeping as the wolves grab our sheep
Night after night as the church continues to sleep
Now we look around and they’ve taken our black men, 1 out of 15, in jail or at the end, of their lives, and who survives? a black mother with two kids and tears running down her eyes?

Where is the church? The people who will fight for the right to be free
They fight and they march, and they shout like it’s the year of jubilee
It’s souls that need to be won, it’s shackles that need to be undone,
We should not stop until every black man, woman or child is free from the slave masters gun

Nothing more beautiful
Than a pair of big brown eyes
Our world tells us that for eyes to be beautiful they have to match the skies but that's all lies
There's nothing more beautiful than staring into her eyes and seeing how her soul is connected to the earth
Mother nature's nectar, and me just a hummingbird
Only needing one, I don't need to be a collector cause you see
Her beautiful brown eyes are deeper than blue skies
her beautiful brown eyes are compassionate and wise
I could not vocalize, all her brown eyes symbolize, or how much I love staring them as she wakes me up at sunrise
And when I'm with her it's hard to prioritize, all I want to do is romanticize, hop on our cloud and rise
I'm so happy I met you, my darling, the girl with the brown eyes

In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God
Darkness, was upon the face of the deep
And God said, let there be light
and there was light, shining bright, like a star in the night
Light with such intensity and might
Light that exposes and show's those in sin their plight
God said, Let there be light, Light that eliminates anything in the dark
The kind of light that sees a fume and adds a spark and then we have a flame
A flame with power that we can wield when we say in Jesus name, the
Cause the same power Joshua, Moses, David have, we have the same
We have the same life running through our veins

life found in him that light speaks out of
but the darkness heard it and it, it did not understand
it was odd, like a one handed man doing a hand stand
it was strange like a man in the wilderness eating locus and honey
it was funny,  it was wild, see they could not understand what this light could do
it could give you joy, it could make you feel brand new, it could affect your whole world , when you're in trouble it can pull you through it can have you jumping for joy like you're a kangaroo

See, this is light is true.
This light, this fire came into the world, but the candles did not receive
It's kind of like turning away Santa late on Christmas eve
But then John bore witness and made some people in countryside believe
He told them that the new Adam had come , so you can forget the old Adam and Eve

The Greatest story ever told
One that brings joy, one that never gets old
He came, he bled, he died, he rose
He rose, and so the story goes

They didn't love him
so who am I to be loved?

Angels have wings
Well, it depends on your perception
When I first saw you I swear nothing could describe the connection
You looked into my eyes, saw my soul, smiled at me, reached for my heart then offered me resurrection
You asked me why my heart hasn’t been beating in so long
You took a closer look ,saw that it was falling apart and you sung to me a gentle song
And the sound of your voice filled me like air
The touch of your fingers felt like care
My broken heart now pumpin’ racin’ screamin’ cause the last time it lived
it lived in fear,
You tell me Angels have wings
Well, you haven’t met mine
Her kiss is like sunshine
Her soul is like moonshine
Strong, glowing , illuminating

Mind of gold,
teach me how to be numb, how to not feel the cold,
teach me how to be strong, to be brave, to be bold
teach me how to walk, a path , of a story untold
heart of silver,
let my pulse strike and unnerve them, like the hiss of an adder
let my tongue be precise, like the aim of an archer
let my eyes see through deceit, let them be crystal, let them be clearer
Soul of fire,
Let my heart love freely, let it aspire, hope let it acquire
Let my mind be calm, as the bombs drop, and we hear gunfire
Let my voice bring hope, let it sing loud like a choir
Because the situation is dire…

Hey,
I wanted you to know that….
you’re beautiful, but like, really
you’re the star that makes me back to that hillside by the ocean every night
Just so I can stare at you,
your beauty is innocent, a million miles away, and of me? , you’re probably unaware
That I think about you every night, and to the world you leave me without a care
And I can’t help but stare, you’re so beautiful, yet so unaware
so unaware of how you light up my night, so unaware of your reach, your light,
You don’t shine because you are a star, but because you are a star, you shine
And maybe the divine will allow our stars to align, and I could watch you shine and maybe you could be mine.

Hey beautiful
There’s a star up there made just for you
Cause when God gave you to me, he needed something for the rest of the universe too
Something to replace the mystery found in your eyes
Something that others can marvel over when they glance at the skies
Something to replace the wonder in your smile
God created something else that makes me want to stop, stare, and admire for a while
A whole universe out there
So vast, deep and blue
But I don’t need to look out there, I am in awe enough when I look at you.

You wonder if I miss you ?
Well does a cloud miss it’s rain drops after the rain?
Or does it know that it will return to the sky, that it will rain again
You wonder if I miss you?
Do you miss the sunset when the sun sinks into the sea?
When the moon rises into the sky do you think of me ?
Do you sit under the stars , do you hope and do you wait ?
Or do you know I will rise again, at sunrise's break.

400 years America ,
For 400 years America, we've been playing this game of cat and mouse, and for 400 years America, you refuse to give us the keys to the house.
For 400 years America , we've been asking to be free, and for 400 years America , you sat there and you promised me, all the freedom I could ask for , for just a small fee

For 400 years America , we've been paying that small fee in sweat, tears and blood
For over 400 years America, we have witnessed the flood, from the storm clouds that burst in a black mother's eyes. The Storm that rages in her heart as she cries. The Lightening that strikes her heart as she watches her son bleed as he dies.
For over  400 years America , we've had to watch our people bleed , for over 400 years America , you've literally scorched and scathered and destroyed our seed.

For over 400 years America our sons, daughters, fathers , mothers have bled and for over 400 years tear after tear was shed
The flags that represent you, makes you free . But the same flags that represent you, doesn't represent me. The flag that represents words that say"all men are created equal" considered me an animal and there seemed to never be a sequel.

400 years later and still "no refuge can save, the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave" I am not blind, don't need a stick or a stave, I am not foolish, I see the road that you have paved America!

For over 400 years, America, My brothers and sisters have fought for your pride
We carried your rifles, we lifted your flag and still you were snide
For over 400 years America, for you battles we've won
400 year later you still point your gun

It's been 400 years America, Gotdammit I am not a slave
I want my rights and you will not tell me how to behave!
You've always had freedom white man, and you don't know how bad I crave! that my kids grow up in freedom and for that I'll be brave to the grave. Even if it kills me, I will not let the color of my skin decide whether or not I win. I will not you let, America, and your adulterous, heinous sin control me and the condition I am in

400 years later America, and you act like you still don't know their names
400 years later America and you still plea ignorance, you don't feel their pains
Emmit Till, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray
These are some of the lives from us you took away
400 years later and you still make us pay
and that's not okay....
To you slavery was yesterday and we should shout free at last?
To you the last police shooting was last week, we shouldn't riot,  it's in the past, You want us white washed but we can't shake the scars from centuries in a caste

Freedom isn't free, but I still believe, I still believe that someday my eyes will see, all nations, all skin colors under one tree, connected to one vine, to the divine

Dear Homeless man
I see you standing there alone
Empty and probably hopeless with no place to call home

The winter cold breathe's on you it's icy kiss
It adds to the pain doesnt it?
To the voice of hoplessness beckoning you to death's dark abyss

Dear homeless man, why do you make me so afraid ?
You're one of God's children and I should be lending you aid
Dear homeless man I don't even know your name
As I wait for a green light feeling selfish,  uncaring and ashamed.

Dear homeless man, don't give up hope
Don't ever become a hopeless man
You probably wonder, if God is so good why doesn't he answer me ?
The birds of the air and the fish of the sea he takes care of
But what about me?

Dear Homeless man, I can't describe to you the emptiness I feel
As I look at you and imagine what you go through, your struggle your world so...real.

My immediate response is to raise my hand and for you say a prayer
My physical response is for you to shed a tear
God said that I would do for the least of I do the same thing to Jesus and for you I did not take care of
Is this what I do to the Lord above ?
To his creation? That's the only question on my imagiation, as I drive home it's a steady fixation as I think, wow me, a christian , certainly this will lead to damnation....

Dear Homeless man I'm sorry,
I wish I could drive you to my home and take you in.
Tell you about Jesus, I know you know that life is tough but I'll tell you how through him you can win
How the cause for your dilemna is through man and his sin but death didn't win
I wish I could show you a new day right now but hopefully through my prayer at that traffic light , hope will reach in.

I don't know which is better
So I'm tossed by the wind, feeling light as a feather
I keep flirting with sin, keep subscribing to this earthly pleasure
Finding joy in the moment, but losing my forever.

I don't know which way to go
I wanna go home but where is home? i don't know
So I follow the flow, the flow of the river
I want to swim again'st  the current but no strength in me, only growing weaker.

I want to find peace
It rains in the jungle, the nights are cold, and there's only a few trees keeping me shelter
I look out between the trees and I see eyes aglow staring me down, I sense imminent danger

Should I run or should I stay here?  Cause it's only worse out there
Soaked, tired, alone and afraid, I wonder
Should I pull my blade? Or myself should I try barricade?
Why am I afraid? I know I should've prayed and probably should've weighed the actions I made, now in the wind and rain I have little shade
I should not have strayed, that course I should've stayed and now I have no aid as darkness sings to me it serenades, it looks beautiful it masquerades. It wants to make me believe, and feel, a beautiful feeling like Christmas eve, so that I can be deceived and caught unaware.

unaware, I mean there was never any light in darkness,
I just feel the cold, rain and wind on my skin left bare
and I know it's bare because I feel this air, my eyes fixed out into the wilderness and looking back at me is still a stare and at this point I'd swear, that I was all alone, no hope, not even a prayer
and nothing could compare, to that feeling of despair out in the wilderness,

But behold, out of nowhere I saw a light appear
piercing through the darkness, signaling me like a flare
And a song! A song filled my ear! singing "yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of evil, nothing shall I fear" And not just that valley, but anywhere, and then no sweeter words had left my lips as I whispered the Lord's prayer as I was delivered from my wilderness
In the name of Jesus, in his warmth, his care

Two broken souls connected
Two broken hearts affected
One circle of trust constructed
One fire within burning

One sign of unison
One will of Fire
One lash of hatred
One strong desire

One Final fight
One final valley
One final moment
One realization of destiny

There once was a girl who fell in love
To a boy that flew as free as a dove
There once was a girl that wanted to be free
To hug to hold, to love relentlessly

There once was a boy who thought he knew it all
Heart as cold as ice he thought, but he would fall
In love with a girl who's heart he knew,
Would show him redemption, would make him new

There is tale told about two friends
From the same planet but two different ends
There's a tale told, that was once put on hold, about a king in a castle and a flag on a pole.

It symbolizes a prince and a princess,
In a universe of soul, and stars and space,
A special place, created in their hearts

400 years America ,
For 400 years America, we've been playing this game of cat and mouse, and for 400 years America, you refuse to give us the keys to the house.
For 400 years America , we've been asking to be free, and for 400 years America , you sat there and you promised me, all the freedom I could ask for , for just a small fee
For 400 years America , we've been paying that small fee in sweat, and a concenratred mixture of tears and blood
For over  400 years America , we've had to watch our people bleed , for over 400 years America , you've literally scorched and scathered and destroyed our seed.
For over 400 years America our sons, daughters, fathers , mothers have bled and for over 400 years tear after tear was shed
The flags that represent you, make you free . But the same flags that represent you, don't represent me. The flags that say "all men are created equal" considered me an animal and there seemed to never be a sequel.
400 years later and still "no refuge can save, the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave" I am not blind, don't need a stick or a stave, I am not foolish, I see the road that you page

Beware the wolf
He Hunts, at night
On top the mountain he howls
His eyes aglow under the moonlight

Beware the wolf, his teeth red with blood
The taste of flesh, the smell of fear
He preys, he overpowers like a flood

Beware the great grey wolf,
All Hail the King of the Pack
The leader, the destroyer
He is the one leading the attack

Do you feel that poison in your vein?

It rushes and courses

and makes you insane

Your love is anything but plain

It veils your eyes, from all the lies

Like a drug that blocks the pain

Your heart, do you feel it?

When was the last time you felt it beat?

Cause since that poison entered your veins

Your soul has saw defeat

I wish you knew the price you pay

Or how that love just eats away

at who you are

from worlds afar I feel the pain

From how you spar

From how you fight with all your might

To lose that love, you feel the fright

It’s not alright, it’s not okay

Memories of the past, the reason you stay

These games you play will make you numb

Do you know the rule of thumb?

Do you even know the sum?

Of how much it cost

your heart will be lost

and so your soul

you’ll feel the cold

you’ll feel the frost

the ice will the build

your world will stop

It will standstill

Cause of the poison..

you let run in your veins.

Boy you better run!
Cupid''s got his aim on you, and he doesn't have an arrow, he has a gun
To put a couple bullets in you,
Yet people say that love's supposed to befun
Son! Get outa there as fast as you can
Duck and dodge, bob and weave, it doesn't have to go according to plan
Because you won't like the mess when it all hits fan
So , run, run as fast as you can

Cause remember you've been shot before, you've been in that cycle, youve seen That love is the poison, and love is the cure
You've had your heart and mind battle, but every time the dust settles, the picture is so obscure
Funny how something so priceless can leave so many lost and impure.
So, be sure, not to look too deep into her eyes
Cause yourself you might despise , cause you missed the disguise
You are pretty smart, but smarter men have been unwise as they stared into the galaxy found in her eyes

Black, blue and white
Like watching the ocean, the moon, the clouds, the starlight
At peace , there's a calm , there's still, the night
Yet below the deep , the bellows roar, there's war, a fight.

Red, white and black
There's passion standing amongst your brothers, people you know have got your back
We stand hand in hand, we focus on our strenghts and not what we lack
We march forward with no thoughts of going back
into the ocean, into the war

Purple, red and gold
We see the king, we hear the trumpet, we hear the saints sing the songs of old
We do not lose focus, we don't waiver, we do not shiver in the nights of cold
We do not waste thoughts on any precious sentiments,
We pull our swords, we stand bold.

What does it mean to be free?

I look down to my hands and my feet and what do I see?

Not shackles, not chains, not confederate flags,

not the fields and not the pains

Of my ancestor who were slain

Who worked in the sun and in the rain

What does it mean to be free?

Does it mean to go to college and get a degree?

Does it mean to live with your head held high and your eyes wide shut?

To live with that uneasiness way down in your gut

To keep your mouth shut and your head off the platter

To many, it seems they’d rather do the latter

What does it mean to be free?

Momma never told me, that’s something that in her lifetime she probably never got to see

Something in her lifetime she never got to be

You can take the shackles off a person and they still won’t be free

Because you destroyed their minds years ago to an insurmountable degree

You, you wretched system

You took my culture, took my last name

You try to steal all my remakes but that’s all in vain

You hate me, and you wish I’d fall

You wish I never find freedom but I got the wake up call

You keep chasing me, like my name’s David, and yours is Saul

Because for decades that wretched system put the necks of my people up against a wall

But I got my hands up, I’m ready for a brawl

Yeah I’m ready to do it all

I’m ready to throw you like a football

But best believe I’m coming for you last like an 8 ball

Because you see, for far too long I’ve been trying to be free

And all along you keep promising me

All the freedom I could want at just a small fee

The fee Martin Luther King jr, he paid in blood

The fee that Malcom X paid in blood

The fee that Emmit Til paid in blood

The fee that Trayvon Martin paid in blood

And now here we are, trying to get what’s been promised

And what will it take us, more blood?

Your love confronts me
I can't resist you
Your touch is sinful
But your voice is my redemption song

I know your voice all too well
It is the shackles on my hands and feet,
It is the bars in this cell
But never did it cross my mind that I was trapped
That this prison was hell
My darling angel
It seems from heaven you fell

Your sweet sinful harmonious tones
Only heaven knows the power it hones
Only hell sings along in your song
As I sit in this cell trying to right this wrong

To no avail to no avail
I've been sentenced to this madness
And there was posted no bail
No freedom from love
No freedom to love

This is America for Petes sake

Black lives don’t matter here

They say they’re being treated unfair

But they’re the one’s drinking up all the welfare

And we even pay for their health care

Poor black folk shouting black lives matter

But they don’t matter

The only thing that matters is the fat cats getting fatter

Build a school or a jail?

In a place like Baltimore, those black kids are already bound to fail

Let’s not forget from whence we hail

We came from abroad to build this house

This was never meant to be a game of cat and mouse

They don’t know their power, so they will never see their hour

Cause you see white people are only safe when those animals scared

White people are only safe when white people are feared

When black people are teared, and on their face is smeared the blood of their ancestors, on the altar that is prepared

The altar that was broken down when we ended Jim Crow

Since then look how low our country did go

But at last at last now again we can make America great

Now again we can end any debate , about what it means to be free

Cause when Trump is in charge I’ll tell you, you won’t tell me

When Trump is President you'll put your hand over your heart for the anthem, not take a knee

When Trump is President, You’ll be satisfied , you’ll lower your fist and you’ll be

You’ll be gratified, you’ll shut your mouth and watch your people die

You’ll watch them bleed like Alton Sterling,

You’ll stand there you’ll cry

And then you’ll wonder why,

why does the color of your skin decide whether or not you win

As you kneel before me thinking about your next of kin,

ready to feel these bullets in your body as your reality sets in

This country was never your own

We brought you here as slaves, you call out for a savior but

Abraham Lincoln is dead so you can put down the phone

Martin Luther King is dead so you can put down the phone

Malcom X is dead, you see,now you’re all alone

We’ve infiltrated your culture and now that seed has grown

As we watch you destroy each other and continue to postpone anything that looks like freedom

Cause you see freedom isnt free

We gained ours in 1776

Your ancestors were still in chains but here today you celebrate with me

Thinking that you’re free

But you will never be free

Harriet Tubman freed a thousand slaves

And she could've freed a thousand more but they were cheering for Trump in his rallies

Because they can’t grasp what it means to be free

And that mere truth is the key

So we won’t say their names

We won’t feel their pains

Cause this is the United States of America , and white is right, we still hold the reigns

Why are you mad at me?

When I am who you asked me to be

Mentally and emotionally

whenever you were melancholy

I was there with you

spiritually and physically

I let you become a part of me

I let you become a part of me

Are you even listening to me?

A part of me,

you know all my deepest fantasies

You’ve swam in my sea of tears

You helped me conquer my greatest fears

You showed me how to live a life with no fears

So why are you mad at me?

You created me

You lit a fire in my heart

It burned bright and burned hot

And with it you knew I’d never depart

The flame swayed and flickered

Each flicker an arm trying to reach out for you, but failing

an in each attempt it fails, but ever reaching…

In it’s attempts it blazes and it burns everything around it

Destroying the very fabric of my being

But then again, I don’t know who’s my being

You thought me how to think, and how to feel

you were the one to take my heart and on it put a seal

That nobody could it take it away

you made sure that with you was where I’d stay

Until I had given up, black roses

Because I knew we couldn’t go on

I had given up black roses because

My identity was found in you

But my purpose didn’t ensue

So I guess the reason that you’re mad at me

Is because I’m no longer who you ask of me

No longer a slave to thee, no longer your entity

So I understand your jealousy, Cause for the first time ever

I belong to me,.

So as fate would have it they would have it they would take us from our borders

They brought us in as slaves so that we could toil for the hoarders

They put chains on our wrists til we rose our fists

No longer would this pain make our children slit their wrists

Times have changed but some things stayed the same

Some walk around unaware that they’re just wearing a different chain

We became the entertainers, we became the “ballers”

While our slavemasters became the businessman, still the shot callers

Just a monkey with a ball, On the rise it seems, but still we fall

What more can we be?

Can our eyes still see?

Cause when I look at my people in the eyes

I see souls that are satisfied

I see souls that have been pacified

Dreams once in the air but now on the ground

Look around my people, see who wears the crown

Cause our people continue to die and no one makes a sound

Can you say their names?

Can you feel the pains?

Can you feel the agony of a hundred thousand black souls lost for America’s gain?

Will you stand and fight?

Cause a Black America United oh what a sight!

Imagine the might! That we would wield?

With a fire in our hearts that could bend steel

Only then could our 200 year old wounds heal

Only then could we appeal and be apart of this nation under God.

Feelings from the ocean floor

my heart cries out for a cure

It longs to be secure

It yearns for something more

Feelings from the Ocean floor

The pressure gets higher

as the waters get deeper

my heart grows colder

As it’s pulse gets lower

Feelings from the ocean floor

who’s touch I now do adore

Cause since it’s put my soul to war

The cold dark waters I can ignore

Darkness became my home, the cure

It’s frosty grip unloving, un-pure

but to fall victim to love’s warm seashore

Is way more dangerous than what I feel

Down here at the ocean floor.

When I met you

I saw that color in your eyes

Your ways so graceful but I tasted demise

your touch so sinful

but the rush

took me to the skies

When I met you

I understood that things aren’t always as they seem

that love was a fire

it boiled until I steamed

until I screamed

and I cried

if my heart hadn’t lied

then maybe I wouldn’t have fallen victim

to that color in your eyes

Ocean Tears
-M Wheeler

Her thoughts flowed steady

Like currents, crashing, like waves

She was deeper than you could see

And the farther you went

The harder it was to breathe

But deeper I would go

To the depths down below

Where your deepest mysteries lie, and the temperatures are low

Lost in your cold embrace

Unconsciously trapped in the dark cold space

forever wanting to run this race

longing to see your face

needing to detect a taste of your love

In the dark cold ocean

Where the waves move and you move with it’s motion

But I was confused by the notion

that you would show some emotion

That you would show some compassion

As the water filled my lungs….

You entered inside me

And you would constantly remind me

That there’s no you without me

And I could not leave thee

Even when you hurt me

And when you deceived me

Oh Ocean you lied to me

You told me you were heavenly

But this love seems to be the death of me

Ocean, Oh Ocean

With no light in sight

I accept my plight

No strength in my body, no will to fight

tonight is the night, I guess my heart wasn’t right

As It’s pulse stops beating

I become as still as night.

This is a call

A wake up call

As the winds of America’s past time pass over the embers of racial distress

Soon their will be a flame

There was riotting in the 60′s and who is say that today it won’t be the same

The ****** memories of America’s past still brings fear

The fire of racial inequality builds and smoke fills the air

Innocent men getting shot down in the street but who really cares?

As a mother’s heart bursts in sadness as she’s reduced to tears

Hands up,don’t shoot!

They think all we do is ****** and loot

But who am I to refute?

Maybe they know who I am and feel my pain? Or maybe I’m saying #BlacklivesMatter all in vain

All in vein cause this pain runs deep

Everytime I see another mother weep

Another black life lost, who will pay the cost? Who will sanctify the souls? And take burning coals to holes where these bodies lay,

Like the one that holds Freddie grey,

Another black man in Baltimore just trying to survive another day, until his life got taken away,

tell me,what more am I to say ,

Hands up don’t shoot

Or how about I can’t breathe!

Please listen and take heed

Systematic racism is trying to destroy the black man’s seed

And what are we supposed to do? Get down on our knees? Cry and plead?

No, what we must we do is Rise up and lead,

That’s what our communities need

That’s what our communities need because we have black daughters, black sons

Black sons whose light won’t get to shine, won’t get to shine because of the barrel of *****’s gun

Oh *****, you wise old soul, you put a badge on henchmen and told them to take control

Told them to go on patrol, and shoot to ****, the young, the old

And you don’t gotta hide, you got the media on your side,

pumping lie after lie, making mockery of every mother’s cry

And that’s why I, stand here with my fist in the air

Staring right at you, ready to lay my life down with no fear

Because like Malcolm, like Martin I’m just another black man working to free the slaves,

Working tirelessly to break down this crooked system you paved

So with the roar of a lion I shout!

This is not a test, this is a call

A call to the people,

Not just a call but an unprecedented sequel

A call to the world to look at every man as equal

And hopefully this equality can take my people out of poverty

Open up blinded eyes so that our white counterparts can see

And for my young brothers to see that there’s no merit in gold chains with no brains

***** still in charge cause he still holds the reigns

Some of our young men got no sense cause they got no change

No leaders to look up to

No fathers to look up to

Just mothers to run to, and to those mothers I say thank you

But to the black men where are you?

I know ***** separated us from our families

but the return of the black man must come quick

Cause extinction is on the verge, and I don’t wanna go back to stones and sticks

Back to lifting bricks, or selling bricks, or flipping bricks just trying to make it

But I look at the state of my people and I can’t take it

So I can’t fake it, cause I feel it

Within me, deep in my soul

So here I am standing, here I am, bold!

No shackles on me, I am going to stay free

And Create a legacy

where I can sit back and watch

My Children be free







M Wheeler