Byword People
Byword People (Came By Way)
Pitch black was the day after
the nightmare before
When the blue wails
washed upon the sunset shore
Dark journey’s end for the castoff children,
who were unspoken for
Idol eyes resting carelessly,
got sin windswept upon a western breeze
Towards a bitter labor colony destiny
An ancient reign of tears soaked the New World red soil,
as reaper grief tainted the replanted spoils:
Sepia souls who were unspoken for
The auction sound of the gavel pound
had such an ugly skin tone ...
Wavy echoes of the ghastly row roar
from the trapdoor chained oar
Emerald moan exertion reverberations
of better beryl days bygone
Fear numbed by the cadaver drone —
That sea-whipped unfurling
of the dreaded skull and crossbones
We of the byword name,
came by way
of the Middle Earth dark passage:
Ivory cold Purgatory
“Abandon all hope”
was the living death sentence message
Byword we came by way,
tossed and driven by Hades’ fury —
Gale force hellbent
on making a false profit delivery
Our byword name
was bawdy mocked at the loading docks
Precious Nazarene locks
were talon prey sheared from the flocks
Our byword shame
was put on lewd, bare buttock display
Scarlet letters written
on wooden stocks ~ hope rotting away
As fresh oppression became
perpetual slavery
And His story whited out
our erased ebony glory
Byword people came by way
of the Middle Earth dark passage:
Ivory Coast gold pirate foray
Forged link pain, so galley below demeaning,
was our Ivory cold Purgatory
Until us bygone disgraced
accepted our Gospel heritage retold fate —
That blessed Second Coming message,
we freely bosom embraced
Byword people,
with the cursed byword name
Cast on the Niger river ...
spit given the extra G, we derisively came
Over fortune fading empire time,
we byword people were scornfully blamed
Pitch black was the day after
tomorrow’s scapegoat nightmare before
When the sky blue wails
whitewashed upon the ruby sunset shore
Old Covenant eclipse began for the captivity children;
who, tho’ New World sold,
were Golgotha crossroad spoken for
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2019
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