Best Poems Written by Abraham Shaw

What Burden

I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free
 Because the burden of slavery is no longer on me
 I've seen the thunder and the rain
 But like a plant outside, only growth I've gained

Stopped by the police, he just wanted to see
 What a black man was doing in a Grand Marquis
 Was reaching for my insurance, he said it was a gun
 Just a book about black man's struggle he had overcome

But see, he thought I was scared and wanted to hide
 But I sat in my driver's seat with all of my pride
 He couldn't get me mentally, so he drove away
 Yeah I' black, and my car came from a mom who would pray

See these statistics say black males just fight, kill and fail
 Do a poll on me, guarantee you'll change ideals of a black male
 See you think my emotions are bursting at the seams
 But I'm not an idealist, I'm a realist with dreams

My intelligence is leaving you scared, putting you in fear
 Yeah I said it, didn't Tyson your ear so I know you could hear
 The past is the past, back then they'd have to fight
 But I don't have to cause I was born with rights

America loves to call black dads deadbeats
 But can't acknowledge the ones finding their kids food to eat
 My black mama did it on her own and never had to steal
 And made sure me and my sister always had a meal

The first male in my family to go to college for a degree
 Yeah look passed the nappy hair and beard before analyzing me
 Been passing racial slurs generation to generation, it's time for an interference
 Cause I'm not a colored man, I'm a man with a different appearance

Yeah Dr. King fought for me and other blacks
 But he's gone now, so I don't need his actions on my back
 Don't read me wrong, I'm thankful for what he did
 But integration is wide open and segregation has a closed lid

These old racists need to go and plead the fifth
 So that future kids can see racism as just a myth
 Let this grudge end and just live your life
 Cause you're only stabbing the Constitution with a knife

Thank you for the slurs, lynchings and KKK
 Cause now you're all too tired to block the future so get out of our way
 My father in heaven made me, so I was meant to black
 He instilled wisdom in me, while you're intelligence slacks

So please tell me what burden do I have to bear
 Success is my future and now you're in a scare
 My light beams bright as the sun, you're unlit
 Struggles are done, I'm hear to stay so deal with it

http://soundcloud.com/abraham-t-shaw/what-burden

Copyright © Abraham Shaw | Year Posted 2013