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?

The limping poet walks around with tablet always in his hand
Has a real way with words, wants the truth to always stand
He might write about the sunrise or the wonders of love seen
A child who will not grow up and treat other people mean
Compose words of the future or pull them out of the poet
Keeps an eye on on the keyhole of happening events
Because he wants his words to inspire and last
You might think that sometimes his words are spiteful
Even out of control, but if he's inspired or even made you think
Just for a minute or even more than know
Than realize my friend that was the limping poet's goal

Now,John Henry , was born  in a cabin, deep back in the woods
And he could drive steel railroad spikes, like no other man could
John Henry stood 6' 6', and could drive steel , with either hand
Legend spread his name,throughout the land
He walked up mountains, for exercise,and remained a steel driving man
Until he died.If you see John Henry coming,you best get on back,
Because even a fool,would know,that John Henry is going to pass
On through,laying down some train tracks

I have bathed myself in the clear flowing waters of your love
And rested under the welcoming tree of your spirir
These hands have tenderly held your face and looking deep within your
Eyes I 've read the silent speech written there
You've been the beacon light of hope shinning across all my dark days
My city street oasis touchstone
With a love as warm as oven gingerbread
And when holding you in the middle of a sometimes evil and
Unjust land ,I've held the promise of joy

A song to inspire should have wings.And the words shouldn't say
The same old thing.You should smile like a new bride.On a honeymoon.
While singing off key . It's familiar tune. A song just isn't a song if it
Won't inspire.Or has no message to bring. Just words put down won't take you higher . And thrown together make a silly thing.A song should be the sun in a sad heart. On a cloudy day. It's like I said before. The words should have something to say.Whether sung by a singer old or New the words and tune should touch the target in you

I had a dream so long ago
Now you're walking into my life
And rain clouds of doubt have all gone away
I come presenting no false self
I have no desire to be with anybody else
A new dawn of romance has now arrived
It feels that I'm living a dream  with a dream angel
An extra special person who loves me
Floating higher than any blue gray cloud in the sky
Dream angel pleasedon't stop my feelings
From building now
Everyday just let me love youin thanks and graditude

Its not my fault that I'm awesome but was made that way
According to God you might have doubts believing that its true
But He made each one of us awesome too
Don't you know that you're awesome just let positive thoughts take
Flight look in the mirror and repeat these words over yourself
Both day and night and fight for what you believe
Because with no fight you will never receive
Just say that you're awesome waking up or when going to bed
Cast out of the mind the nasty and untrue things
Others have spoken and said let your awesome take over each day
And never live another moment of dred

Do Ants take lunch breaks? Do triangles have cousins?
Does a suitcase ever wear a suit? A compass ever get lost?
Do gorillas lift weights to build muscles? Do elephants ever forget?
Do fires ever go on strike? Do chairs ever lie down?
Why can"t a banana peel its self? Does fear really fear anybody ?
Why can't mice sing ? Was Walt dizzy when he made Disneyland?
Is a penny really money? Is carefree really free?
Is a stoop a set of bent steps? Is a trip really a getaway?
Is a raisin a grape that failed?
Are wrinkles wisdom lines or just annoying straight marks?
Can you be happy by buying a happy meal at McDonald's?
Do bald headed men have dandruff?

In the deep green rain forest
    There is the elephant watering hole
     Huge snakes on the ground
      Cross your path so bold
           The hippo takes a mud bath to cool off
              The monkeys high in the trees
               Let out shrill laughs
                   Bullfrogs jump around in the water on lily pads
                     As the moon replaces the sun
                        Than your eyes open and you're safe in bed

Summer is gone and soon the leaves and grass will be turning brown
Falls chill in the air has folks putting on coats all over town
And before you know it summer's traces will be buried under the falling Snow wish I could hang on to summer but each season comes and goes
In summer you can picnic by a running water fall birds are singing
Sweet new songs trees are green and tall with lovers getting married
In June beach days building sand castles are ended way too soon
Summer is the time to eat ice cream piled high sweet potatoe  salad corn
On the cob hot dogs hamburgers root beer what a solid treat
Sitting on the beach house porch watching fire flies light up
The summer  night but just like summer they die

She had a face that looked wrinkled by old age and poverty
In a red coat as footsteps took her slowly to a seat
On the north bound trolley the sun wasn't even warm
That  OCTOBER day as i glanced down at her old worn sneakers
With red socks it seemed time like the train had passed her

How Do you mend a broken heart
   When love is no longer there
     You thought love would be an easy thing
        But watched it passing in the night
   Which just proves that no one
    Can teach another
     How to care
  Maybe another time or another dawn
    You'll come back to me
     So I'll wait here
       While you search out being free
         Though your leaving really mattered
         And left my once whole life shattered
           So now I say with tears
   Running down this sad face of mine
Woe is me

In the ghetto time and grime don't hold back
The years or the tears.Scream out in the night nobody hears or cares
But I'm still holding on.There are fears out here nobody has met yet
I'm still holding on. Walking city streets praying that death won't
Get to me. Sooner or later strangled by the secret wishes inside
Hoping the fake dreams of smoke entering the bodies noses I see
Don't off the real dreams of those not on the pipe
*** being used to sooth away each tired ache or lack
People trying to escape from the ghetto blues
So I'm still holding on. Watching kids doubledutch on sidewalk cracks
Lots seeded with tossed mattresses junked cars rotting trash
Stray dogs seen hanging around hot dice nearby
Thrown down roller hoping to get lucky
And I keep holding on

From dusk to dawn I raise this hammer to hit the railroad spike
On the ground, when he heard I was serving life doing hard time
Daddy had a heart attack, and looking around in this crowded place
I know to home I won't soon be going back
I hear somebody say, son forget about your woman , she'll write saying
She tried to be true but found somebody else
Hear the sound of the hammer talking now to me
I know to the other prisoners a man can never show any fear
But looking at these high stone walls, I'll probably die up in here
Nights I stay up not able to sleep, holding steel bars in both hands
And slowly start to weep, listen to the sound of the hammer
Locked up here there is no hidden glamour
This is a place where dreams go up in smoke
No laughing here, grimness is no joke
I remember so well when the world fell in on me,
Mama forgive me for all the wrongs I've done
I know that there's no coming to my rescue
Said goodbye and held you at the prison gate
Turned away from right, now it's to late
Hear the sound of the hammer, beating the steel spike down
And the dead sound of steel slowly going into the ground

The poem with an arrogant voice speaks and demands that the poet
Write of love pain life joy trees clouds over cities
And things both near and far away, golden discovered mysteries of love
And events yet to be born into time, a poem is a written gift by the poet
For you and me , a poet who walks the dog on cold or rain falling
Afternoons, who puts the mail on the hallway table,whose dreams stretch
High as the soft white clouds, whose memories reach as deep as tree roots
Whose feelings ring bells of tenderness in human heart
Whose tears and joys in waves come and go like the ocean tide
Who finds a mystery in each coming day and wonders what it will
Teach,the poem speaks in a loud matter of fact voice
That tell of trees cities sea Earth and sky
For man knows that life is an unexplained mystery that must be lived
Day by day,poem tells the poet that I have no voice
Until you the poet give me one

That first day back from kindergarten
The first summer vacation
Soft falling rain on new lovers
Fresh cut sweet smelling grass
Flexing bare toes in the warm sun
Christmas morning with the heart bursting with childish excitement
The delightful taste of mister softee in different flavors
Mama's moist homemade gingerbread filling the kitchen air
Cuddling your favorite love by a crackling fire
Portraits of natural outside beauty designed by GOD
Intense feelings hidden by a false calm waiting
At the altar for the bride to arrive
All of these special moments of life composed  of waiting and watching
Anticipating and enjoying gifts like an impatient
Jack-in- the box

You've had the same strange dream before. Many nights in a row.
Waving a red cape in the horns. And hot rushing breath of a 3,ooo pound
Bull. As the light of courage begins to stir deep inside. You were in this
Place before. But it was called another name. The dream spoke of where
You fell in the white sand. As blood dripped from puncture wounds
Which left hoff prints of stain. And hundreds of people craned their necks
Watching you avoid death in that same place of fear . And passed over the bridge to relief. So many times. The courage becomes smooth as
Polished stone.And from the same place you stand. Others have stood
With fire in their bellies. Slow  burning glow. That calls them forth
But this is real and no dream. As you fall down dying in white sand

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.

If were mine the wings of a dove
   I'd fly into your heart and find the sweet love waiting there
       There would be no rivers nor mountains
     To hold me back from you
          Nothing could ever keep us apart
     My love for you is unending
         For your hand in marriage on bended  knees
I ask now, with no pretending
  Let me reach you on the wings of a dove

Even a blind man could see
    That you belong with me
And this knowledge would even make any fool wise
  Each time I look into your eyes
   I get so soft and mello inside
Upside down is the way you touch my heart
    And every day I feel the same
Sunrise to sunset the very best is coming yet
  My love will faithfully remain
Don't ever want this romantic spark
Out of my grasp
  Want to always walk beside you
  And make these feelings last
  You know that some people only get that  one chance
    I believe we can be together
Despite stormy times on life's trying seas
     Baby  I 'll always believe in the strong love ahead
       For you and me

Once upon a time we really loved each other
But the romance slowly faded day by day
You started going to bed in a long flannel gown and bathrobe
To keep warm in bed you used to say
Pecked me on my cheek than turn away
After we broke in due time I got down and asked the Lord up above
Not to run into you in the stores or on the streets
Because somehow I might be tempted and old sweet memories
Just might come rushing back in on me
I wonder who are you holding now
And are you still sleeping in flannel gown and bathrobe
Does he know that you 'll kick the dog when nobody else is around
Once upon a time is all I now have to remember you by
Got to hold on to  my strength
But  sometimes tears make it slip
And I start to cry

Grand Daddy introduced me to country music, when I was a tiny little
Thing and later on, both of would play our guitars side- by- side
And together folks would stop outside while passing by
Just to hear us sing.Somehow I strayed away from country music
While growing up, got into pop music funk and blues
And people I 'm raising my hand up high, because its the natural truth
But  I could't stay away to long, because  I  know now country music
Is in my roots

Our time is now
    No need of anything
Knowing each joy
  Being in love can bring
    Gossips can't tell me
     That I'm too silly to really know
        I need you so
  And you love and need me
     Our time is now
      No need to longer wait
       No sadness of goodbye
          No need to ever wait
     Think of our love and smile
       Our dreams will always stay
        Stay the same way
     Our love is here to stay
    Our time is now

Jazz starts with rhythm in the heart
Along with drumming language
Notes drifting along the Nile
An Ebony man's drum speaks love
Signals in Gospel Blues Rap Victory
Sad voices lifted up from souls that cry

I was blind and couldn't really see
  And your love opened up a whole new world to me
   Like never before
   Want to go running and knock on
  And tell the good news on every neighbor's door
Must confess that I never felt this way before
I remember looking at you my tongue used to freeze
Suddenly felt dizzy and weak in both knees
Told  both my daddy and mom
They said sit down and brace for a hard life lesson son
Now I'm fully aware of just what the power of love
Can do, not only for me but for you too
Never felt this way before

When love comes around again
I want to really make it last
And I resolve inside that I won't  make the same mistakes
And spoil my new happiness with the faultlines  of the past
Being hurt by love at any time is just to hard to  mention
But experience has taught me well and when the chance comes
Around again, my changes will be known for that's my intention
And at last, I'll find a new beginning with someone I can trust
And hold out my heart like a cup
To let my new love fill it up

I've been cursed by my enemies and talked about by family and friends
Sometimes shunned by my lover,yet still I rise
I've walked through the American land of dreams and idle promises
Been down in t5he valley of the shadow of death without hope to ease the strain and still I rise
My talent has been taken for granted at times and my gifts ignored
I've played mind games with others while dancing to the sullen  music
Of pretense and hard times and still I rise
Sometimes my endurance withered muscles fails me
Time has left behind pieces of my precious life ripped apart by deceit
I've traveled through mine fields of human denial and suffered times
Harder than poisoned spikes
And still I rise

My eyes take in your unparalled verdant beauty
which truly forms a refined vision of quiet style and grace
With simplicity in natural born richness .Love flowing so fully
Makes a man never want to get your love or refined vision
Out of his system just when I thought love was a closed chapter
Your refined vision stepped in

Were you there when I was taken by night and tried in the court of
Public opinion and held my peace by not responding. Were you there
When the spikes of evil bore through my hands of peace on the cross
Of lies and open backstabbing. Did you watch them place a crown of
Injustice on my brow made of sharp ****** ? Did you hear me when I
Cried out to my heavenly FATHER on the wooden tree as the blood
Of my soul ran down slowly as I declared it was finished my course was
completed.But I will rise in three days from the grave and live again
For you cannot keep nor hold me down. My place in HEAVEN is above
And your place in HELL  I will tread upon

I speak your name and it bounces off the room's darkness
   The romance is long over
     Say no long goodbyes
        Just take your things and depart
           Memories are the only things left
              Lingering in the corner of my mind
     Although they break my heart
       To every one who asks I smile and say that I'm fine
     Taking a long vacation
Only packing necessities
  Some moonlight walks
        Romantic picnics
           Action packed movies
              Cuddling in bed on Saturday mornings
          And the sweet  Lingering smell of your clothes
             When you were here with me
              All of this was left behind

I can hear the rain falling hard and fast outside my window. Rain coming
Down to water city sidewalks and streets. People pass with raised
Umbrellas rushing to work. Raindrops touch places where spring
Flowers lived before surrendering to death.Washing the city clean
Each second that it drops down asks no permission to do its  mission
Count on the rain with a steady beat to be around . And if you don't
Have to go anywhere just pull up the covers to your chin and know
The falling rain coming down is everybody's friend
Have a cup of warm tea on me.Or relax in a bubble bath and breath free

When daylight is gone
  And stillness guards the coming night
You come into my waiting heart
Causing desire to sweetly stay
My prayer is to just be with you
    As twilight ends and softly departs
M y prayer is a whisper of your name
  As stillness is a light divine
   With our arms and lips entwined
   My sweet know our time must be aglow
Let me tell all the words you're longing to know
My prayer and the answer that you give
I'll prayer that they'll be the same
  For as long as time lets us live
  Want you to always be there
        As I whisper my prayer
I will be on PhillyCam.com  Chanel 29/30 Sundays at 3:00

I've been through life's fire and come out on my feet
Brave and ready for the next challenge now watch me soar
Pressing on pass trials of darkness and the lion's roar
Ever knowing  inside what my true purpose is for
Keeping my eyes on the future just ahead
Encouraging myself along the way with words
That JESUS said you might laugh at me at times
Or even ignore but don't blink your eyes
Or miss when I soar

Her soul was steeped in grief and howls of sadness poured
From her body after the policeman 's bullet ended the life of her only child born into the earth a male and all the green  young green trees
Had been cut down and lay still in death lost to life
Much like a bird in a big empty house with no escape banging
Against the walls that locked it away from freedom
Away from the sand and fog of a lone sea

Lie down beside me. As your heart is beating fast. Both of us are wrapped
In silence. I want to make each second last. Whisper in the darkness
Sweet things my hearing longs to know. My beloved one don't be
Concerned we'll take each motion real slow.Lie down beside me .Let our
loving moments be a feast.Later on cuddled together as the dawn rises
Slowly upon the earth there will be time enough to sleep
As I've told you before each motion will be taken real slow
Let us take our fill of love until the duties of the day
Make us have to depart

Love was just a brief pause
Like holding in your in your breath
A comma at the end of the love sentence
Like looking at the person next to you
Seeing their back going out the goodbye door
The green light of moving along is on
And we transform both of us into strangers again
Departure I dislike the same as you

PleaseSee me through the eyes of your heart
As you continue to fully believe in me ,  our heaven sent love
Will never depart, and  the world won't be able to break your believing
Or give our relationship a false or uncertain start, and if we both
Wake up tommorow and this dream is still here
I'll look into your dark eyes and still be pleased,years from now
Under skies of darkest blue, this man of yours will still be holding hands
And as time slowly takes our youth away, while traveling down the road
I'll sing one last song to you

I'm thinking about that old chapel in the valley
Attended so long ago where sunday church bells would ring
And my teenage baritone would sing sweet  songs that memory
Used to know.Don't you know that I left that chapel in the valley
For the city to be wild and drunk and free
Spent most of my time in dark ***** tonk bars
Driving fast shinny new cars like I was a fake movie star
And all the *** that would come to me
Now I'm older and  a little wiser now and time
Seems to be less plentiful than it was before
And like the prodical son in the bible
The world is no longer much fun and I have the gray hairs
And the unseen scars to prove it my friend and I 'm sorry
For all the wrong that  was done
So down on my knees crying out LORD help please
Welcome this foolish child back home

YOU were soft velvet and spring water .I was root beer and DVDs
You were Macys and all its magic and I was the army and navy store
But I loved you than as I do now and will always
You were opera and concert music I was gospel pop
You were candlelight dinners with place mats
I was Mcdonalds  fries and burgers iced tea
You were Runway fashion and political talk
I was cars and backpacks and in spite of our differences we were blessed with  a brief span of time and I had to convince you that  our love would last
Even  if you had serious doubts and maybe I should have listened
To caution's voice whispering inside my head as you did
But I 've always been a stubborn fool, now I wait here for the lonely years to come  and will say in spite of fate's final decree
That I loved you than as I do now and will always

One million voices downtown Philadelphia and around city hall  and
The world repeat: No Justice  No Peace
Ebony men falling like black trees in the streets, police bullets cutting
Them down. Thrown into the back of vans and dying on the way to jail
Police with guilty hands walking away free
Seems that the justice system has failed
Stop and frisk various cities are trying, yet men of color keep on dying
Woe is me, I can't see the end of it , what measures will stop the flood
Of human grief from happening, body cameras on our finest in blue
Show positive proof of deadly truth, yet and still public sorrow
Still takes root, somehow in justice I,m still trying to believe
But with one million voices like mine lifted in cities here
In grief toward the skies, I say woe is me

If only these hands could sculpt your pristine beauty in wax
So all the world would see in exact detail every curve and line
Just as God created it to be breathing life to its stillness
My house of wax of course would only contain statues of you
No one else would be allowed to touch  each formed part of
A creation from a long ago memory

Flickering moments spent in your presence are not enough
They are wine  and food for my soul
And I find myself greedy for more as time silently ticks by
When all others would attack me with dagger and scorning tongues
I find that your love serves as my first line of defense
So could I ever be cold in the shelter of your arms
When its a tender fire inside that warms me so?

Your love has given wings
Up above the blue  silver stars
Has this man believe this flight will carry me onward to Mars
Feeling that the impossible is easy and there's nothing I cannot do
Spinning among the planets all because of you
The very reason that I now sing
I want to love away all the lingering small fears
So glad that presence is here
And I'm no longer in life on my own

High fruit on trees
   In easy reach
   Summer's incoming smile
     Running through piled leaves
      Faster than the mind thought it could
         Keep:
           Spring
         In memory's solid storage chest
                Inside

I try to move on but the pain lingers on deep inside
She has me living in the land of the broken hearted
Left the door of my soul open and sadness walked in
Where did my happiness run? Where did it go to hide?
Face lonliness now and kissed goodbye all of my dreams
Nothing excites me any more so I guess its the right time
To end up in the land of the broken hearted
Taking my emotions to be repaired it will take some time
To come back but I'm here because love didn't really care

In a gym in Philadelphia
Boys with street hungry eyes flick jabs at your moving brown form
In a circled ring of chance.Sweat hangs in the air like the sad
Truth of poverty.If they get pass you the sweet smell of success is guaranteed.For the scared don't get rich
You made good,born the ******* of misfortune
Dreaming of riding past the old neighborhood in a custom made car
Meeting beautiful long haired women with even white teeth
Maybe in your dreams you saw boxing gloved foes
Falling by the the score.But defeat and loss chased you down
Dead -end alleyways of lonely tears and the walls of your mind
Seemed about to collapse as you ran under a sky of broken dreams
And tossed away chances with closed eyes afraid you were dying
From large blows to the soul
A body worn and a collection of years of being struck
How many times have I seen you hanging over the ropes
Completely wiped out of cash and hope like a voice lost
In the rumbling of a subway train speeding past
tenements of Philadelphia

Wake up each day by assuring yourself to keep it moving
With thankfulness and joy past all doubts and fears that would attack
Belief and  GOD given faith in yourself, know that you are greater
Than any problem or enemy that could ever undo dreams
Or unloose your forward stride of yes I can
Always bear in mind that you are the answer to any foe or fear
That could ever come across your path so keep It moving
And always know inside that victory and success are waiting on you
So keep it moving you are the answer to your problem
Keep It moving

This is life and nobody leaves it alive
  so people face the fact
   We're all fighting to survive
   So be sure to love really hard
     And make your life really matter
You only get just what is earned here
   It's not handed out on a silver platter
Spread some love and understanding
   Before this day is through and just watch and see
       If they don't come back to you
Don't  spread strife and ill will
Whatever you might do
     Smile and share words of kindness
       Before night comes on through
        Mind your manners and say thank you and please
         And before getting in that warm bed
          Thank GOD on bended knee

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

A woman who is equal parts playful and pensive
Always romantic and loving filled with vibrancy and casual cool
In a moody changing World.