Love Needs A Renaissance

How did we get here you ask, well... Daddy used to preach look both ways before you cross the street Because history is known to spend the block And after I watched Jerome get shot in the daytime while kids were playing, Mrs. Johnson was gardening, and my two friends were sitting with me yelling to the crush across the street Bullets changed the perspective of how I shoot my shot, these letters will not be forgotten Compacted lead made me switch how I shoot my shot, a new court discipline, hard work they forgot Life is too short to be playing games And that day everyone outside will say the city changed The bustle and hum at the corner light on 53rd has become numb Dimly lit smiles all running from the elephant in the room The city that once smiled has become a jungle of fear But that day was not the genesis of change everyone will say Nooooooo Remember to look both ways, because before the spray-painted city was grey washed with appropriation the same thing happened to Bay Baylee, act like a young lady Momma would teach Now a teacher hoping she could plant a youth that would reach Beyond potential and to the infinity of impossible, because Baylee dreamed of living at the beach One she would never see because Mr. police man responded to the wrong code, assuming the skin tone, and then fear breached Past the laws of human decency, 3 shots to the head now she tans at heavens beach Momma's tears fill the ocean and then it rains on the city as the neighborhood mourns Mr. Johnson owns a store across from the corner on 54th Every time I walk in, he says what happened to love And me being a young poet would always spit a few bars Love is in the same cars the shooters use to hate But love isn't exercised until it's too late I watched LOVE lose its roots, so they use YOU as bait Because they don't make love like they used to, the kind that hugs when you scream don't shoot The kind not just looking to knock boots We need the love that makes forever jealous to have a conversation with those no longer zealous to dig to the core Love needs a Renaissance Mr. J And who is going to lead it? I walked out with my sweet tea and Honey BBQ Twists without an answer But it made me think, why not me… It's been a week since I went back to the store, my heart has just been heavy, but love is light This morning, I think I saw a flicker at the corner light The door alarm rings, "what happened to love?" My reply holds a breath before my answer sees "I don't know but I think it's time for history to repeat..." True love must be coming around the corner soon This is my view every day, why don't you come and sit with me p.s. chapter 1, the Renaissance is coming, and the British are dead...