No Tears

Death of a Champion (We Cry With Silent Lips)

The old champion bows her head and drops her torch.

Fatigue has set in after a century of drudgery

And all her commitment shown, no one can question her decision.

Her partisans are bleak and sympathetic

For how long should they ask the weary warrior to keep standing?

The new masses turned away and the poor exiled under law of phylogeny,

There is now no beacon but a rickety fence creakin’

That children fear when blows the old wind, once called freedom.

Jupiter

Hatred. Poverty. Discrimination.

A storm that’s tearing down your house and rocking the foundation.

“This too shall pass.”

I hate to know it, but life is more than an aphorism.

One thousand years ago they didn’t know that the ship would land here.

That Great Red Spot won’t stop

And the red clouds make it quite clear.

Across the surface we see it prove relentless.

You can’t wait out the storm. Silence is not progress.

So if you love your babies, give them the right gear

To brave the climate

Because if one storm passes, the next is just behind it.

No Tears

No tears if you see my back break

There ain't a limit to what I can take

On my life, you will never awake

In a strange house

With the screaming louder than the smell

I would gladly burn in Hell

Before you live in a car

Washing off wherever you are;

Gas station restrooms or a nasty hotel

No.

You won't ever miss school

Daddy will always take you

And you will never know that life

Or see the things I went through

Inebriated and incarcerated will never be me

I'll work every day to make the life I gave you easy

I'll not raise a hand to hurt you

 Don't let that alert you

I'm just here to show you there

Is always a home to go to

And if things aren't always sound

And Mama's not around

You still won't be alone

I know it would be hard but I would keep you strong

 ...

All Lives Matter?

When you say all lives matter I hear black lives don’t;

An oversimplification of a phrase that held meaning

Your statement was never questioned

You just broadened ours until the guilt lessened

No one need apologize for the crimes of others

I know you never held a gun and you love all the same

But ignoring just breeds ignorance so things will never change

All lives may matter but day after day who is the prey?

Turn on the TV, it’s another black name