What  language or voice does the wind speak?
When love comes softly our lives wait  our senses listen
Expectation tingles the flesh and we cannot hold all that we love
When the thunder flashes tossing thunder bolts at gains
We go chasing after the unknown
Certain to lose so scared
Lives with out hope

Once again night has tumbled down through the universe
Wonder if the tired  and weary made it through
As the sun unzipped it's yellow light on cities around the world
Those who test their courage to find love yet not known
Win

I step outside taking a deep breath of shimmering heat
Pollution exhaust fueled by hot air escaping from age old trees
That cradle night the open door of morning slams a closing
The house calls a long goodbye
Footsteps slap city pavements as cross streets draw near
Pushing past a maze of houses silent as graves
The opening mouth of the bus reaches out
Cutting off pouring thought
Crowded flesh with mixed attitudes swallow space with cruel  indifference
Time ticks on slowly uncaring

The sun cries that it's to early to be put to bed
Yet night insists that it's turn to shine has come
The stars glow like huge eyes against the dark background of sky
Air is white shirt crisp stillness trim down below on earth
Time steals days and nights of longing
Man dreams of ways to be Hero  survivor
Often hitting a blank surface in thought
Violence is a steady interruption of life's peace
That leaves no choices
Test my courage against the challenge
I win

People I heard talk about the miracle love could do to the heart
I would just laugh and walk away.Than you came along
And changed my stubborn mind and ways
Who would have thought that I would love you this way
You became the light to my unseeing eyes
My candle's glowing flame,I can't believe that there is more
Than just a pretend romance and all the blind years thrown away
You've made my life grand and shouting new
Who would have thought that I  would love you this way?

Sorrow is in my soul's kitchen right now
Fixing up a bitter lunch and because I don't look like what I've
Been through, friends and family don't even have a hunch
Know that there's a lesson to learned in all of this
And I'm sure lives others would like to swap
But you see the blues have stripped me down and left my soul bare
Which is why these tears slowly falling down a wet path on my face
Never ever stop.Tears keep on falling and people pass on by and stare
In this cold and heartless city they don't seem to really care
Wish that it was possible to send up a kite of hope
Against a cloudly sky of naked despair
Sorrow just brought his little brother named trouble in Lord
Please pull this misery chokehold off me
Because you're the only one who can

We walk around like we own this place
Frowns of hate and disgust get out of my face in PHILADELPHIA
The city of brotherly love I think we really didn't get the message
That we're to spread on earth God's love
No real caring for each other's feelings or well being  as in life
We daily stride wrapped up in the clothes of selfishness on the planet
As chase after the things of pride
We really don't know just where we're going without GOD on our side
Moving fast and impatient with each other and not in gear
Every waking  moment attacked by  bad news and surrendering to fears
Who do we think we are, acting like we own the planet when its quickly slipping away and taking self-respect and dignity
From each other and the weak ones ,are we wiser or any greater
than on any other day?
We've got to stop taking life and love for granted
While both are here, who do we think we are?

I'm a hungry child in AMERICA and all I dream of is food
Eating chips and candy cookies every chance that comes
Surely doesn't help my hungry mood
Crying on mama's shoulder for a little more to eat
The small donuts that I  saw in the supermarket would be a great stomach
Treat.I'm hungry, so very hungry, hamburgers  fries steak with brown gravy are dancing before my eyes.Mama loves me, I know that she really
Cares,but she ate noodles every meal before my birth
So that's why I came out of her womb, impaired and hungry in the greatest country in the world and there are so many others like myself
Out in plain sight , many hungry boys and girls
Will the nightmare ever really end?  so hungry and tired of the gridlock between the President and both houses in Washington to mend.Can't they come together for my sake, and pretend to be friends
And not fool the Nation or me with their phony promises and lies
Just to get elected to office again, because I'm hungry

America written on your lady of liberty statue in new York harbor
You ask the tired poor weary those yearning to breath free
And we are here hiding in the silent shadow of that statue
Wating in articulate rage for our change to come
We cry out to you from the thousands in job lines
From the welfare lines and cheap bargain stores
While eating the corner store's high priced make-believe steaks
And bullet proof beans that make up our daily bread
The American dream for us is quickly becoming a home grown nightmare
Even while we're awake and slowly the great horn of plenty is running dry
For we are overworked,overlooked,underpaid,victimized
And forgotten in this land of the free and home of the brave
The money eagle still flies, but too high for the poor to catch
Blacks Whites Yellows Browns all sing the blues of hard times
Some off key and some on key Congressmen and city council legislate themselves higher salaries and less days to work along with longer vacations and more fun times
Democrats are doing it to their secretaries,while the Republicans are doing it to the Nation
Taxes are high and utilities too
The cost of living is going up while the chance at living is going down
Food stamps are cut in half as hunger cuts human throats
As our world turns people in other lands are watching us too
The want for a better life clings like a bad season
Povery's sorrow slides past the cheap wine inspired laughter
The stolen *** moments that blot out everything but the intense need
Can I get a witness?

Love has left the building
It was't reasonable nor wise,don't you know that we are all GOD's
Children here in His eyes .See me on Philadelphia streets
And you look past or turn away, it would be nice to live in a city
Where people smiled or hugged along the way
But this is not the real world closed minded folks would say
Hate's darkness is approaching and it took time to contruct
What ever happened to in GOD we trust
I have a strong unshakable feeling that love has left the building
And it's taken along with it affection ,faith and trust

I see the sad tears fall upon the street
Of those whose bellies growl from not enough to eat
See them sleeping in door ways or hugging cold pavements of stone
Night fills their ears with the rushing of sirens to help others
But is there one reaching out to end their plight
Prayers go up to GOD that what few things that they have
Won't be stolen and their bodies will soon be made whole
In this land where promises made by Washington's elected never unfold

On Sunday mornings she would clap her hands
And call on Jesus in HOLY JOY in church
But selfishness fueled her spirit.This nubile looking princess
Who denied lust,yet allowed the daughter of her youth to ride waves of
Fleshly passion in the bedroom next door and moan out loud
Soon the call to JESUS within her grew faint and she rose up from
Prayerful knees and went back into the World again
Casting aside the Savior who had brought her through
Times good and bad for white and reggae music
And eat the stale apple pie of indifference
With a side order of the meat and potatoes of sin

He held the rich brown earth in the palm of a large hand
Fromwhich his crops grew and tasted the smoked ham country meat ,
Ate freely of the cornbread ,peach cobbler,sweet potato pie,turnip greens,
While laughing a laugh rich music. I thought him a glass that would
Never break or fall,a flower with no need of rain or soil. A daily tower of gentle strength. He embraced allof life's joys and pains like a man.
He went forth with gifts and sought to anoint the world with the same love
That anointed his family.Grandpa penny tried to make me look
beyond my foolish youth,so that I might understand the ways of wisdom.Now looking back over the long passing years
I realize that he opened my blinded eyes , offering me a chance
To see life face to face.And I closed my eyes and let time move this
Solitary man to another emotional place and cried,
Because I didn't want to deal with expectation and far away hope. But now the  way is brighter ,for  Grandpa Penny taught me that truth
Never lies and no lie lasts forever

That first time I beheld your face
I felt that the entire world stood still and the moon and stars
Fell down from the sky as my hand touched yours
That first time.That first time I felt my lips softly touch yours
It seems I welcomed a new romance and the world was mine to have and hold
,it was the gift you gave to last inside for all time
Now that day is long past and memories still float inside my mind
I'll have a warmth everlasting to keep me going on
In the the coldest winter of night until its my time to die
My eyes have captured all those tender moments we shared
Just like that first time

Listen son stop trying to tell me I don't belong here
Because I was black in the state of Virginia which makes me American
With these large brown eyes you see staring At your phony pretending  concern, you use kung fu words  with the speed of Bruce Lee  all the while trying to edge closer to my personal life which will remain closed
You think that claiming to love and follow Denzil Washington and Oprah
Will make me feel loved and distracted
What do you know about the highs and lows of being Black?
I'm about to back you up and put you in your place
And stay out of the place you keep trying to put me
Cause who I am is ...me

I never knew his real name as a child in Newark
But named him Uncle Funky the peanut man while he sold peanuts
from a makeshift stand, now on this June 2013 morning
My mind opens the door of youthful memory
I can see soiled pants and shirt,an old battered hat  covering gray uncut hair and brown hands waiting for a dollar for his peanuts
Funk clung to his skin like fleas to a dog
And just one whiff released would stagger a young boxer in his prime
The times changed with the town sweeping Uncle Funky away with
yesterday and the past like old news
And I wonder and it isn't a very pleansant wonder
Whatever became of Uncle Funky the peanut man?

The two men had known each other since childhood
And had remained friends
With exploring eyes they had seen eagles soar in Italy,boats  sail in Greece
the large moving hands of Big Ben in London,laughing children in Paris
And in all of these wonderful places they could speak and clearly
Understand each language.They had become world travelers
Having traveled by boat train horseback camel taxie.Than one ,each traveler had discovered that different ailments had come upon the other
One traveler's legs were weak  needing a wheel chair, his friend had gone blind
so they sat down together to discuss their mutal plinghts
And put a plan in place that would let them continue enjoying
new travel adventures.The crippled traveler in the wheel chair
Promised to be the eyes for seeing. The blind traveler promised to use
his strong legs and fit body to push his wheelchair bound friend wherever they decided to journry.

Hope is all I have to believe that the sun will rise each morning
So that I can see it
Hope is all I have to believe that the moon will glow bright every night
Hope is all  I have that my love will not fail you
Hope is all I have to believe that my child will come home each night
Happy and smiling like she left this morning
And that street violence will not claim her
Hope is all I have to believe that the rain will not be held back
And fall like it always has and feed my crops with continued life
Hope is all I have that the doctor is wrong when he kicks it away
like a three legged chair and tells me that I have no more time to laugh,
love, or care for you tenderly
or another chance at happiness on another new day

I can still smell the strong aroma of vinegar used to wash away the blood
of slaves who were flogged on deck until their backs were raw
mainly the ones who refused to eat  or drink in order to be made bigger
to sale on the auction block.Their lips were sewn together and a hole
was cut into the side of the cheek and boiled millet was poured in
We slept less than six inches apart below the deck amid the *****
funk,feces,side to side,belly to belly,hands and feet in short chains
a slave will try to escape usually as the small canoe is leaving the shore
or throw himself into the shark infested waters to end his doomed life
while the chains and anglets were taken off that we could dance
to fiddle music music and entertain the captain and crew with yellow rotting teeth and whiskey coated breathes
before arriving on deck some slaves might have died
and were thrown overboard or put into rafts piled up and floated
out to sea,and so we were again counted and examined  one by one
*******,groins,toes, backs ,teeth, arms
No wonder that some of us slaves thought that death was a highly
prized escape over living a life of chained misery

Lust is usually served on a platter of desire
A fancy feast of slow or quick Death
An  disconnect from reason, a flight of the mind

On this Philadelphia street
You walk quickly by and don't acknowledge me
In this the city of brotherly love
But at this makeshift place where I suddenly died you bring flowers and cry
So many have placed flowers and stuffed toys where my life was lost to street violence and this one fact remains ever so true
In life down here though I was nobody to you
I was always somebody to Him
Yes,it seems quite a shame that only in death people have finally learned my name.As life drained away, each breath grew weaker and weaker,inside a faint prayer was reaching out to Him on this litter trash covered sod,somehow I knew these final falling tears running down were reaching the heart of God
And this one fact I know inside as my life and vision dim
I might never have been anybody to you
But I was always somebody to Him

I should have written sooner, that I know
But no sooner does the dawn command the sun to rise
Before evening makes it go its lonely way
Somehow I still think of you
When I behold a  russet apple tree
With arms bent down with ripe fruit
Or walking the beach barefoot
With shrieking seagulls overhead
Under  a sky as clear and blue
as  polished glass
Come walk beside me on this new day
Let us join the ages
The sun rises and sets
As the seasons spin before our eyes
The moon and stars will light the way
For us down life's path
Seeds of friendship planted by us will take hold and grow
Care and love will protect them
Warm and feed them
Surely a tree will rise from the soil of time
Warmed by the sun's gentle rays
Let us plant today
The tree will be us
But you seem unsure
Be my loving friend
Are you  ready?
Do you feel secure enough to really know me?
Do I offer too little or too much?
Am I too late?
Or too soon?

Wet tears overflow the banks of sad eyes
it seems that sorrow is holding court and is in session again
hiding the smile that tries to come forth like the natural dawn
and one never really knows the journey from tears to triumph
and how long it will take to reach
for there are far to many who could tell of the strain of tears on the human heart

Look what they done to my freedom,ma
it was just here a few minutes ago, but America done stole it away,
chains on my neck,legs and soul everywhere I go
its enough to drive a grown man insane
see my silent tears water the dust my red bloodcrying turning the clay
wish I had wings to fly away
but all of me is hurting night and day
see what they done to my  freedom ma,if I could just rrest on your ***** for a little while
until the dark lonely night turns into the golden day
they put a noose around my freedom and dreams ma, chained both my hands and feet, took away my very smile and turned me into a slave
look what they done to my freedom, ma
it was just here a minute  ago, but Americca done stole it away
look what they done to my freedom,ma






ou know it was here just a minute ago

MY LOVE I'm thinking of you
it's growing dark outside as the sun is pulling its color away from Earth
slowly, cautiously,silently
I can smell the Earth scents, still warm in the air
leaves and grasses, living and dead flowers fragrances from some nearby place,all these odors and many others
of cooking and flowers mingled and mixed into a indefinable potpourri
by the cool and welcomed breeze that dares to rustle the leaves and break the hush
somehow, its my favorite hour of the day, twilight
it has a haunting quality as all things pause and grow still
while the departing daylight silences their colors
old lives and new ones. the honored,the thief, rich man, poor man,beggar man,-all caught up in the stillnesof time,waiting,wondering, listening.
perhaps the Earth too will stop and the seas spin and might never be another dawn for us beyond this night
I wish I knew what thoughts you held concerning me
I only know that you must let time remember our love
the currents of which run deep
as I behold your face in the reflecting pool of my dreams
and now in prayerlike silence
I thank you for setting me free from yesterdays lonliness
I wait here for you to walk softly into my waiting arms
as you enter softly in to my presence

On that last day of goodbye
we hope that you will go slowly
but come back quickly to visit
for the landscape of our lives will be less without you
your smile was a morning sun of greeting that warmed us
and the soft voice was like romantic music
that swept over our spirits
like April rain refreshing
dear friend, goodbye is such a sad word
but inside the mirror of memory
you will not fade

Death cannot end or steal the spirit that lives in those we leave behind to grieve us as over life's tossed sea it strives
the feeble soul lifts over the tide
as toward lighted portals glide
to float upon a wider sea
until a heavenly port eyes see
when home at last through the restless waves
held in the Master's hand
we sail a lovely sea, so vast
it bounds beyond human grasp
known only to the Mighty one who calmed the roaring waters
our Father ,and our God

Rememberances of you, each new sun rise put new sweet thougfhts
upon my mind
the graceful way that that you walk into a room and that very special smile
you cast at me, like receiving a gift on Christmas morning
seems to fit my style,I look forward to your hand finding its way
softly into mine,trading glances across the dinner table each
star filled night and when I'm far away knowing within  that
you have the strength and love to make everything  alright
Rememberances of you, make me so thankful that my longed
for dreams within came true
rememberances ,so many rememberances  of you

You're the reason that love has come my way and the inspiration
to make it through each passing day.
As the hours tick on by, you're the reason I lose track of time
You're the reason that I sought you out as mine
When my need is great you never turn me aside
You're the reason I'm so happy and checked my selfish pride
Get down on my knees and thank the Lord for this feeling
Gently growing ever so quickly deep inside
You're the reason that keeps our love alive