Up Longer Than Down

You look at the shadow

Down trodden

Sleeping on the street

Dormant, wondering

Where’s his next quarter

Or when will he next eat?

You think, what a travesty

Why is his story so bleak?

As if life started

Where you two first meet

Which is far from the truth

Of his history

You think maybe

Because his skin is brown

When in truth

He comes from stock

That’s been up

Much longer than down

So many shadows of color

But all are Black

Just treading on tough roads

Where the deck’s been stacked

But, the shadow’s

No Johnny Come Lately

Long time it’s been around

And longer up, than down

From Pyramids to Timbuktu

To Garvey, Elijah, and Martin King too

Giants among few

Masters among pigmies

Envied and turned blue

Outraged at the thought of change

That would alter

The slave-master game

Recrown a glory

And rewrite our story

One that reads in simple words

Your success is eminent

And not absurd

You are proud

And destined to rule

Your hieroglyphics set the basis

For all the world’s schools

But the knowledge was changed,

Rearranged, and with it

You’ve been hoodwinked,

Bamboozled and fooled

But, at the end of the day

You’ve been up

Longer than down

You wore a smile longer

Than you’ve worn this frown

You’ve been wiser longer

Than a White man’s clown

But, you look at the shadow

Down trodden

Two pay checks from homeless

Worried and overly stressed

Black people, once proud

Now broke and depressed

It seems hopeless

Oh, what a mess!

But, there is light

At the end of the tunnel

A rope on which to hold

We just have to be bold

Say it loud

“I’m Black, and I’m Proud!”

Stand up! And remove the shroud

Join hands will all

Who look like you, like me

Our power is in our unity

Together as a solid wall

Nullifies Humpty and breaks his fall

As a crowd we form a safety net

That one day

The world will respect

Then, what was shadow

Will be in the light

Standing upright and poised to fight

Prepared to make a new life

One where prosperity abounds

As we re-member

We’ve been up

longer than down.

A Simpy Fab Poem©

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100% Employed

Go to school

Get a good job

Life is hard

For the out of work slob

Go to school

Get a job

No worries

They’ll always be work

From janitor to file clerk

Or one, atop the list

As Trump’s highly paid Apprentice

See, times have changed

Jobs run out

Plantations gone

Farms and factories fazed

Integration open

And Black businesses closed

Education available to all

Designed to keep

Modern day slaves on call

While the sciences of

Self-Mastery, Mating and Marketing,

Remain a mystery

And entrepreneurship back seated

To doing for self and

Letting freedom ring

Yeah, it’s a heck of a thing

Millions of collective dollars

Available to spend

Yet we set no trends

Continue to follow

As others bend our Will

Afraid to get down and dirty

So our children are like the wind

To and fro

Job to job

Prison to death row

Insecure because we’ve failed

And left them nothing sturdy

What skill will we pass?

What business will they inherit?

What institution will our lives outlast?

Oh, no worries …

Those are concerns for responsible adults

Those interested in limitless results

Those with a mind to be truly free

The courage to right history

And chart a new destiny

No need to be annoyed

Maybe tomorrow you’ll be

100% employed.

A Simpy Fab Poem©

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To BE …

Awareness is

A heck of a thing

Like a bell

Migrainely chiming

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A wake up call

Finally making sense

Of it all

The Why’s of life

Coming home to roost

Psychosomatic ills healed

Revitalized with a sonic boost.

No more wonder

Why no place felt like home

Why I was compelled to roam

The reel-to-reel

Stories of pain

Shrouded progress

And tainted every gain

Unconsciously played

Over and again.

Over and again

I served others

But forgot to be

My own best friend

Thank God

This has come to an end

P. P. and L.

Is to where I am compelled

Peace,

Productivity

And Love

Now starts from within

And rains down from above

Cleansed,

Clear,

And conscious,

Awake

I opted to give

Myself a brake

To openly see

To live to Be.

A Simpy Fab Poem©

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A Parent There.

Youth has its’ pluses

And minuses too

Agility, newness and

Worries relatively few

If you’re lucky

At least one parent is home

Someone who supports

And cares where you roam

Is open with advice

Rarely said less than twice

With some recollection

Of their own youthful imperfections

Judgments are spared

When grades are declared

And groundings just

Though you didn’t study much

One who carts you to

and cheers at every game

and if stuck at work

truly wish they’d came

Listens as you rant and rave

overly dismayed

When peers have misbehaved

They pray every moment

You cross their mind

That life’s in your favor

And people are kind

They understand youth

As having its’ trials

And is there to support

Whenever you dial.

So, next time you’re annoyed

Or deem your parent unfair

Take a deep breath

And thank them

For just being there.

A Simpy Fab Poem©

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For Real

Want to know where

A person is coming from?

Want to know how

You can be intelligent,

But stilldumb?

Just pay attention.

Not to the words

That are coming

Out of their mouth

But to the actions --

They’ll always tell

What they’re all about

Ill intentions

Masked with a smile

When their true thoughts

Are more than foul

“I’m with you!”

“I knew you could do it!”

“You’re all that…”

When in fact

The real thoughts

Are of a different caliber

So, the truth

Becomes a blur.

“You ain’t got no clue?”

“You might as well quit!”

“You can’t win,

‘Cause you’re Black!”

Fiction facing fact

The imagined versus real

But, what others think

Is no big deal

What matters most

Is your internal host

And the constants

On your mind’s reel-to-reel

That’s what is

For Real.

A Simpy Fab Poem©

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SEARCH

We search for things,

For objects -- Prada this, Versace that.

We preoccupy our minds

With distractions --

Sports, sex,

A myriad of attractions

We say what we don’t mean,

Do what we’d rather not

To mask our loneliness

Get over the shock;

That what we see

Is not the real of what is --

That what we see is not

The real of what is.

What is real is what outlasts

The material;

The mundane;

The drama;

The series of never-ending

One act plays;

With omnibus characters

And plots that never change

Those woven through

Time and place -- but somehow

Never fills the space

A woman’s heart

Filled with a man

Has no room for another

A man admired

And appreciated

Looks no further

A couple fearless

Of loving with abandon;

Imbued with mutual value

And passion is Power.

We search for things,

Preoccupy our minds

And engage in addictions

When the Seat of our Soul

Seeks connection

To its Creative Source

A Spiritual Partnership

Vertically aware

One productively active

That vertically shares

When complete,

None compares.

So, search.

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Self First

I thought I’d learned

To put myself first

To quell the thirst

To nurture above my means

So easy to give

It all away

To the point where

Another would leave

Rather than stay

It’s a dichotomy

Of superior form

A universal principle

Governing human decorum

Others treat you

As you treat yourself

If I value me

So will he or she

Take time for me

So will he or she

Do what I enjoy

And I fill myself up

Rather than suffer

From endless void

Do for you

And others will get a clue

Clear they can’t come

Just any kind of way

Because you have plans

For each and every day

You live to the fullest

Work hard

And make time for play

Put self first

And you will savor the flavor

Of mutual respect

Put self first

And your kindness will reflect

Put self first

And you’ll be able to live

With much, much more to give

A Simpy Fab Poem©

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