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        
 
This poem was written in honor of Billie Holiday's song – Strange Fruit
 
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