Strange Fruit

Earth tone, the melanin jazz that sings throughout my veins    
The protective barriers when, Come By Here My Lord provided no cooling rain      
Such a blessed skin to be, beautiful to adorn, it reproduces in so many shades      
From Bronze, to Honey, Brown Sugar, and the sweetest taste of marmalade      
        
You could say I am not that dark      
Most will say, we all bleed the same when given our own foundational spark      
Yesteryears denied me my rights, my land, and my mule        
That old Constitution creed and the three fifth clause rule      
Are we not a presence to stand      
Do we not deserve the pursuit of happiness, for every, child, woman, and man      
       
We bleed the same do we not      
When the last breaths are rendered, who cares who holds my hand, the color of death always leads to a burial plot      
Was I fair in life, man’s fairer soul screams from the grave      
Did I give the darker man a chance to pave his own way      
Did I stand up for equal rights      
Or hide my pride behind crosses at night      
       
Oh God, if I can only turn back the hands of time      
I would listen until I understand the relative theories behind all mankind      
No more segregating my soul      
I ask you to let me enter through those Pearly Gates, for my weary spirit begs to be consoled      
My Lord, there are so many down there just like me      
How do I explain to ignorance this is all we ever hope to see      
       
Each night as we pray on our knees to believe      
Such a beautiful life found in the enlighten of the Alpha and the Omega, yet we deceived      
No diamonds, money, mansions, which has passed, it is only vague if there ever was        
If only I learned better to forgive and love      
Plagues, diseases, famine, I wish I had more time      
I would turn back the clock to preach the gospel from Jesus’ fruitful vines      
       
The darker man, had a future and a plan      
Until our ships invaded the shores of the Motherland        
The Dutch, the British, Portugal, unto West Africans they accepted monetary settlements, taken, and separated placentas in vain        
Deceived into labor to sow Sugarcane      
The Middle Passage, lost souls, revolt in the quest for freedom, escaping the stench and the brutality of pain      
Dark hands of the plantation we tilled        
Confined among a bed of cotton, lashed, without the thought of free will        
       
One by one, chained, beaten, broken, now under a docile reprimand      
And you stand here in judgment asking to repeat your life over again      
Would you tear up the forefather’s scrolls, words expressed where darkness is valued a sin      
Black Friday, Black Plaque, Black Cat, Blackmailed and any other unsavory odds and ins      
Give me just one more attempt, please, I will set things right, not just, okay      
From the Emancipation I will revisit to the revolt of the Haitian slaves        
I will scream to the mountaintops it has to be a better way      
Bowing down thy head in shame, the book of life, minus my name      
Go son with forgiveness      
Spread love, compassion, and this Day of Judgment, will never be your haunting reminisce      
       
I will plant the seeds without malice or unlawful intent      
Blowing in the wind my salvation, my soul shall toll until this is understood without relent        
The day will come for everyone to live and die with honor      
Not standing here and expect to stand in God’s favor as a sinful loner      
To eat among Gods table, in Heavenly skies      
I ask the question, what’s done to the dark, shall always encounter the light by-and-by      
       
Selah