Poor Man's Hope

How far have I fallen from grace

A day older, gray are the skies that grow colder

Old successes aren't good enough for the new challenges

The quickness of life isn't what I had imagined

Will I rise from this pit

Or will I keep digging a larger hole

The hole left in my soul from someone who never grew old

The hole I try to fill with mythical paradoxes no one has heard of

Where sanity meets humanity, weighted down by darkness or maybe gravity

How long is the hour of happiness

I just want to be on top of the world again

The lady who raised me fears for my soul

I just want to make her proud

Yet its hard to stand when the wind blows cold

No longer can I hide behind this beard

The cool is exiting and the real has come sooner than near

God please take away my fears, please take away these fears.

Equality's Fault

What if Jesus was white and Ronald Reagan was colored

Would the sun be the moon and what is now land, be water

If time was not real and space had an end

Would the animals be god and men graze the lands

What if truth was of no value and hope was never needed

What if we didn't pay taxes would the government still need us

What about the millions of dollars used to campaign for the politicians, 

That amount of money could pay salaries and purchase groceries and cover many school tuitions

If a child refuses college, the world turns its back in scorn

If one buys into the system, then must we all

What about dreams being fulfilled

And no more sick patients dealing with the stresses of hospital bills

Money seems to play god

Money seems to be the devil

Never mind the wickedness of the world

Never mind the revolution story of the rebels

If a rebel I am, then a rebel I will be

But I will fight for the rights of all men to be free

To be treated fair

For equal opportunities

All blood bleeds red and all hearts beat to somber psalms

Injustice is injustice 

Yet they're never punished for their wrongs

They point the finger

But the fingers show who was really at fault 

What if Jesus was white and Ronald Reagan was colored all along. 

Colored Souls

Ring around the rosie
Tried to beat the nigger out the old me
Burned me to ashes
Existence no more to be
The harsh life of a colored man
God gave me this color man
Playing God gets you in trouble sam
Couldn't be bothered so I ran
Seeking truth
Seeking substance
Seeking the basics
Caesar is the devil
Lies lead to displacement
They claim I'm getting blacker than the tar
And these pot holes are the scars
Being black is an art
Until you let them see the blackness of the dark
They want what they stole
And tell me I have to pay
Political injustice for a kid just trying to make a name
Jesus paved the way
Yet they set you in moral decay
I'll become as black as night before they take what's mine away
Perhaps the harshness of life are my own people not accepting me
Half breed
Half soul
Just 23 chromosomes
Yet I'm the loudest to let freedom ring
When you become God, then you may judge me
From the dust we arose
To the dust when we decease
I can't get down with the man
I have to be me
I can't be down with the man
I must remain me
I can't be apart of the man
The man doesn't believe in free.

Forever Young

You wake up one day and 24 years have gone

Closing your eyes won't retrace tomorrow's dawn

These days of youth are caving in

The time to be a man is when the wind begins

Seems like you never can truly hold on

Time doesn't create forever young

The hands on the clock never have to be wound

We all seek a heart in which we wish to drown

Save the dates

Save the lights

Save the moments in psalms

As soon as it comes its when its gone

Don't let this life pass you by 

Because we can't escape death

If only we could reinvent ourselves again.

The Jungle

Violence is awarded

Self respect lacks importance

Humbleness is avoided

Self righteousness is true glory

How far are we to fall from the tree

For our roots run wild and free

Why aren't we also to be

If it is spoken, then it is done

False pretenses of who we're to become

Bewildered, lost, shades of who we once were

What has and what will

The lies are digging this grave still

God shows his face when we see our own guilt

When times are good we don't call

When times are bad to our knees we hate to fall

There are no I told you so's

There are only hands to help us rise

For if we rise we see better days

But if we just remain we seal our fate

How to overcome ignorance

This is our new pace

How to overcome prejudice

This is when we are to be great

The seasons are becoming the same

The times are seeking change

The dignity and pride we once felt

The morals and values we once held

How can we find our way from being lost

When will our Moses arise from the dust

Who will lead our lost souls from these forbidden sands

Once the last grains fall, who will turn over the glass?

Rebel's Psalm pt 2

Love will rise above thee
What is put in, is what will come forth
Purity and truth guide us home
Peace and hope will conquer all
Jah smites down my enemies
The day to day walk is all but easy
Monetary values do not soothe me
Fright will not conform me
What's right is what's right
My life is my life
He without faith lacks belief
A rebel's journey is the path to free.

Rebel's Psalm

Twenty-three, I'm just trying to make it to twenty-five

I want to live a free life, I want to see fifty in these eyes

But caesars rights are intended to take my people in the night

If not by the bullet, then by miseducation using torment and fright

Placing drugs and guns in the hands of the unwise

Creating worlds by giving free highs

How to captivate art and birth a demise

I wish I could walk out of my house without being viewed as menacing 

We live under the same sun how could I be seen as threatening

We believe in the same Son why do we worship separately 

I see the fear in the men of the world's eyes

Son of God and hated for even being alive

They don't want me to live in their day light

They don't want me to walk down the streets that were made by dark colored hands

I tilled these lands, which they stole from the free man

Kings and Queens fallen from grace

Fallen from pride

Corrupted in dismay

The epitome of being blasphemed by our brothers hands

Why are we seen as savages and not free men.

Soul Rebel

They beat me and called me nigger decades ago

Still alive in the flesh I am their back fired ammo

My name is my name

My thoughts are lost time in my mind

I know how to read and write and not be denied

I will never forget my story, nor will you either

In the abundance of water only a fool will be bitter

They try to hide their past wrongs and keep painting the world white and dirty

So I decided to turn my bucket of color upside down

And walk around the world showing love in my footsteps to higher ground

No matter where I travel my words will travel farther

I won't share in the shedding of the lost tears of others 

I broke the system

I broke their religion

I broke the chains of pain

I write history that they will never taint

I was in the bones of Samson

I was part of the blood in the sweat of Jesus

I am a descendant of David

And Solomon's wisdom lies in the truth I live within

Who are you to take away life,  if you cannot create it

We cultivated these lands

No whips can take away what is to be free

The land we live on will one day be beneath the sea

The time we live in is borrowed

Man's law is man's law

The righteous answer only to God

If you bruise the heel, your head will be chopped off

From sunset to sunset

The tides will sink and rise

Only representing the struggle

Of how far we have drifted from God in our wayward lives.

Windows

Our eyes are the windows to our souls

Confident, nervous or weighed down by the world

The days aren't growing any longer 

And the racism has all but faltered

A generation has been failed by parents who had been failed

As our clocks tic away the time of our lives

We look for mirrored images of the days we struggled to survive

We were told we could be anything we wanted to be

But no one told us that it only applies if we sell our souls for cheap

What makes a system tell you how to live

What's makes another man think he has the right to take but not give

Who told man he could play as if he were God anyway

This corruption we live within isn't just day to day

It's forever or at least until the death of our dreams to be free

A poverty stricken society infiltrated by death, drugs and disease

If only our worried minds could just be allowed to breathe

Maybe we'd make the best of this world and just let hell be.

Willie Lynch

This is not a real place
A society that pays homage to gays

A country that still runs on slaves

Corrupted

Our kids die in the streets every day

Feeding us the needles to take the pain away

Liberation is born this way

Conservation is the chain clanks

Failure to decimate a race

Success is taxes paid

No money for school 

Sell your soul to Sallie Mae

Jordan no longer plays

Saturday's sneakers

How to demise a race

Fashion forward

Guess I won't pay my rent today

Smoke this weed

No gas money

I was going to walk anyway

The essence of words

The use of language

How to bring kings and queens away from home just to be abandoned

Three hundred years later

Tar and feathered still hasn't changed

Words a man wrote who hated himself

Still drive an economy not even white Jesus could save

Paint they're faces on stolen success

I'm just a kid judged not based on my knowledge or wealth

I can't even grow a beard

Or even paint my expressions in the clouds

Father do you see how they treat us even now

My name is not billie or susie

My name is not boy

My name is my name

Its worth cannot be destroyed

I am man

I am the test of time

God I pray for deliverance

For this society that has made breathing while black a crime.

Love

At times I feel I have everything 

At times I feel as if I have nothing

Those fears that usually drive me disappear

Those same fears will return 

But manifested as the flaws I can't grim to bare

Please don't kick me down

Please don't shoot me down

Life is a crazy thing

It's either give your all or nothing 

It's not about me

It's not how much I give

Living selfless

Sacrifice

The reason we all live.

Soul

No longer can I fake it
From here the up hill is make it
No one truly knows the depths of these tears
No one truly knows the yield beyond these fears
Waking up nervous
Going to bed burdened
Praying my mold is broken
For the weight is far heavier than any crown
And the strength isn't able to be bound
The myth has met the legend
My clumsiness let's me know I'm alive
These dreams grow bigger by night
These visions run faster than the bright
Waking up on the edge of greatness
Knowing nothingness is a ledge fall away
Kissing failure on the eyes
Embracing being a man over the divide
I know my destination
I know my happiness
My God knows me
But do I know my God
Do I really mean the trust I pray for
I know what I'm thankful for
I used to wonder why we have faith for
Too many people are caught up in others lives
Too many people have their eyes in mine
Pressure is nothing I can't handle
Time will never slow down
Never would I want to be a king or God
Yet I'm looked at as if I know all
Search your hearts for your own clarity
Build your own castles
Don't rely on your personal sanctity
I cannot cry for the lost
I cannot recover a forgotten heart
Who will survive this peril
You cannot thrive in this era
Brick by brick is being unbuilt
Egypt's walls will not cry out slavery
London's bridge will not cry for the merry
1968 will not cry about the victory
Chains will forever sing the pain of gravity.

Grace

We are broken
We are unstable
The hardest of hearts
Is the weakest of men
The wise are all gone
Only us poor fools are left
To be awakened
To know love
To love life
To give your all
Substance, we waste it
Fulfillment, we fail to hasten it
Redemption is always near
Living life without fear
Living with a purpose
This is why we are here.

Everything's Not Lost

In man's time, love will never conquer hate
Hate sows more hate
Color sows color
Life ends in death
We pray death ends in new life
We pray so many different fates
We pray to fulfill hunger
Yet we don't seek knowledge
We pray for dreams
Yet we don't climb the mountains
Everything is to be handed
Everything is to be dumbed down
Neglect who you are
Be ignorant of who you should be
Forget everything that you were taught
And what do you end up with
Who are you behind closed doors
Who are you in the storms
Who are you in the sun
Who are you if you don't seek love
The wicked seek hate
The wicked don't know their wicked
We live amongst the sick
We won't cure them, cause we're not healed
We don't understand our tears
We don't understand our struggles
Yet we listen to those who are the wolves
Never to be tamed, hidden as sheep
Mirrored as humbled.

Early Morning Glory

Only God knows my thoughts
Only God gives me my dreams
The only originality in me is what I believe
The visions that blind men see
The division of religion is hypocrisy
Black and white yet we serve the same God
Black church and white church do we serve the same God?
Its funny that we walk by faith and not by sight
But a power trip is what divides a church, there is no conquer in divide
Maybe we shouldn't see the black and the white
So much for having faith
So much for converting those who are of the world
When we can't even unify our churches but tell folks they're going to hell
If they're going to hell, then so are we
Racial divide doesn't spell l-o-v-e
Speaking my mind will never sit on ears with ease
I'm seeking the divine and I know He hears me
Live not for personal desire
Live not for your selfish ways
God I'm trying to get it right
I pray I'm not too little, too late.

Choice

A generation of lost slaves

A weight burdened by these chains

Digging holes for our own graves

No ships just spiritual infiltration

Weak minds and weak hearts

Walking further from the roots that once fought

Blame the parents who never taught

Blame the government for the system into which we bought

Blame yourself for not fighting their brainwashed oughts

The only thing that is true is truth

Will you fight for your rights no matter if the force is brute

Would you fight for your life just to do it for you

Why do you live this life if you just insist to live in a deep gloom

How do you live if you don't know what you're living for

This wickedness in our hearts is no more dangerous than the eye in this storm

We're responsible for our own deaths, we're no longer the victims

We choose the lives we live, who will rise and be the difference.

Happiness

You can read fifty books
You can listen to a thousand songs
But why live in some else's thoughts
If you don't know the truth within their heart
Each day could be our last
So do what puts a smile on your face
Even if you hide behind a mask
Live your freedom without dismay
If you love writing then write.
If you live in love, then be loved.
If you love playing guitar then grace every note in the name of funk
No one controls how you feel
Only you can control how happy you are
Its easy to convey the sad feelings
But its easier to live out heart warming moments
Don't waste today talking about tomorrow
Don't waste today living in yesterday
Never find shame from where you came
Because where your going is a happier place
In the end our loved ones will have to deal with death
Don't allow that to determine your bitter sweet end
Don't wait until the end to live
Don't wait until the end to forgive
Don't wait until the end to be the friend you should have been
Every dream you want to pursue, pursue it
There is no greater hope then rising from the ruins
Failure is a delight in the eyes of success
This is your life you live your own happiness.

Parallels

Never had any glass house dreams
Never really found profit in another's belongings

Self worth and predictabilities leading me to accept the laws of be

The loneliness of a rolling stone

Focused on how to build a home

There's a point where you realize the world can't have you

There's a point when you realize time will surpass you

Everything always feels surreal 

And the only thing that ever sinks in  

Are the dishes into the soap, daydreaming about "one day when..." 

Not sure if I'm more happy with my failures or the wins

I'm just loving this place that I'm in

It's just us, her and I

No longer do I worry about broken hearts or goodbyes 

No longer caught up in the thoughts of could I

Cause I did

I have

And none of the should haves are still resonant

My most valuable photographs are the ones I see in her eyes

And there's never a bashful smile I'm ashamed to wear with pride

The difference between you and I 

Is the choice of being a man 

Boys don't understand and that's the place we're in

I'm not afraid of the world outside

Death is inevitable

Your aged and failed dreams are no longer a parallel

Maybe one day we'll speak again

Maybe one day I'll be the father that you tried to be

Not a day goes by that I don't pray for you

Not a day goes by that I don't cry a little inside

There's never a day that will exist where you're not bigger than the sun in my eyes

Paid attention to your mistakes

A life in lies is one I won't portray

A life in your eyes has got to be scary every day

Lost, bitter and enthralled in self decay

I wish I could rewind time to give you better days
Maybe on the road is where you should've stayed

Now the sun is setting and my brothers can't sit steady
Wish we had the means to heal all the temporaries
Dollar bills can't solve a bitter sweet ending
However they can solve the hunger and tears
That have existed in this world for decades
We're never in want but all of our problems lead to headaches
I know the sun will shine tomorrow, hopefully tomorrow lasts for always.

Fists In The Sky

Do you understand the words I speak
Rome cries for Greece
My thoughts are something you cannot teach
No sermon could be preached
No burden could be as profound
Within the ground lies the place
Where this skin and bones will one day be drowned
You cannot feel my soul
You cannot not fathom my understanding
Fists in the sky
March of the right
All kings die
That's when the legends arrive
The values of man
The anchors that no longer hold me
Love is the freedom that cannot control me
Love is the freedom that buried the old me
Love is the freedom that molded me
Many are lost like the waves in the sea
We are not accidental-like floating in the breeze
I am somebody
I refuse to wash in your tub of beliefs
Boys will sit
Men will stand
The men who stand know it all comes to an end
Every victor is not engraved in the sand
Walking outside of these societal walls
Fist in the sky until this world falls
Fist in the sky until my God arrives
Fist in the sky I shall never be denied.

Where is God in your human rights?

Where is God in your human rights?
In whom do you believe?
Do you believe there is a God?
Or do you just believe the earth appeared from make-believe
It is never your job to judge others
Nor is it ever your job to control the rights of another man
We all have hearts, minds and eyes
Yet not everything will we understand.
Who are we to condemn one another
When we cannot control the moon and the stars
How can we condemn one another
And lie and say we have love in our hearts
Love every man as if he is your brother
Treat every man with kind and respectful thoughts
Who are we to condemn this world?
Where is God in your human rights?

Knowing...

What happens when our dreams come true

What happens when the sky is always blue

Why do we want success so bad

Why do we want all of the things we've never had

How happy are we truly

How irresponsible are our selfish mistakes

From babes to adults

Do we really know how far we fall from the tree

So many times we listen to advice but not our hearts

God speaks to us through our hearts

Our gut instinct is what we personally desire

There is nothing that makes one man better than another

If you measure by wealth, then you've killed the hand you've been dealt

Nature always runs its course

It whispers tale after tale

But why do we not hear it

Why do failures in history never seem as if they once prevailed

Why is this cup so tainted

And why is the world ever changing

We never ask to be born

Yet we pray we never die

Inevitably everything has an end

I just pray I make it inside those pearly gates on time

What makes us truly tick

Why do most people not break how they've been conditioned

Why do parents forget to pass to their children common sense

Who really knows how long its going to take

Who really knows every mistake that they've made

I know we have to choose God to be saved

But what about those who've never heard His name

Will they be saved when He comes back one day

Is it right to question where we come from

Is it wrong to challenge the walls of religion

Or should we just accept something not chosen but given

I can only know the answers to these questions for myself

I can't answer them for him, her or anyone else

I have my personal struggles

I have my vault of faults

I just hope love is felt by everyone

And its not forced through a catheter 

While we subconsciously can't reason with our thoughts.

Home

Keep it home
Keep it home
Always keep your heart home
Keep it real
Keep it real
Always keep your heart home
Remember that one time
Remember the last time
Forever or as long as you live
It never slows down
It only gets faster
I hope your prepared
I hope your ready
The practice
The dedication
The hours
The days
Sensing the tension
Awaiting the destination
How bright will you shine
How far will you glide
How lost will you become
Until you become you
Until you become true
Paint your portrait
Let them see the real you
Let them understand you
Always be you.

Trust and Make-Believe

Fire of a purist 

Gift of an allurist

Establishment of a florist

Creating the finest choices

Inevitably defining the death of roses

Defying the business and courses

Racing faster, there's more than horses

The elegance from brazen to golden

Broken, folded, now molten

Death of an art but we must create new sources

They must hear our voices 
We're becoming more extinct than trees within a forest

Can you feel the cries from the unborn eyes

Can you feel the rain in this blank canvas called sky

Do you know your purpose 

Do you know what worth is

What drives the oppressors to gain the need of supporters

What drives the successes of those who've been unsuccessfully  demoted

The humble advance in the finest order 

The advanced lead the march of death for the extorted 

Wise men say you are what you eat

So how do pigs dine when they're out to sea
How do you trust if its make-believe
Maybe gold isn't always what it seems.

Gur Aryeh

How can you fade back to black if black never fades
Everyone wants to get paid

But no one works hard enough to complain

My first world problems

Your first world depressions

Our first world obsessions

With minds no stronger than adolescents 

Sounding so irreverent 

Feeling so neglected

Trying to get ahead

But in what direction

Time is running out

I'm running from father time

I don't want the rocks to cry out

The essence of compromising ones life

Life, love and glory

Outgrowing your story

Don't get too big for your britches

The old man is always snoring

From the dried ink in a pen

To the brink of a new plan

The passion from my heart

The wealth inside of a rhyme

Why do the ones you love the most

Hate you the hardest at times

Deliverance is promised

But at what cost comes the land

Either you are or you aren't

We cannot question

What we don't understand

Yet we judge whats not understood

We frolic with thoughts deeper than evil and good

We dance between the fine lines of black and white

Yet we don't fit in the cracks

We don't get to live this life twice

So why do we wait to hear the cock crow thrice

Should we live it all wrong if we can't get half right

Are our problems all gone if we stay in the light

We will only understand truth once we look in it's eyes.