The Essence of Me
Born in the Goshen ghetto,
bound by an Ashkenaz forged umbilical chain
Beloved mother was Jim Crow lynch poor,
adored father was the Uncle Sam same
Third-generation slaves,
pauper freed allegedly
But royal blood their ancestors
sweaty tears did bleed
From the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob genealogy,
we be the Judah seed!
Fourth generation twinkling stars yet-to-be
Castoff caged lions of godly pedigree now Diaspora awakening —
this is the essence of me
Tarshish Northern ships brought us back
to the wild Westworld land of the flag-colored pyramids
Pharaoh daily doubled our task:
turning a lot of mule straw into plenty gold bricks
Cotton picking and plantation boot-licking
the wooden hearts
doing their Devil axe
of auction gavel family splitting
Woven fine linen from the flax to fresh flesh market sell
Southern hospitality sons
and courteous Antebellum belles,
Northern genteel gentlemen
and Boston New York prim ladies dressed Philadelphia swell ...
both of those Civil War satin sides breaking our backs
We be Republican and Democrat black raisin issue rejects
falling thru the frozen project pipes of the smoking crack
Doing us a federal entitlement welfare disfavor,
giving us sub-standard housing ...
Sending us to the poor man pad of locked cells
Where again we toil with hard, chain-gang labor,
but they gave us
prisoners of hope no water from their free wells
We be plantation factory fetter clock punching,
and our kids ain’t getting no mo’ gov’ment free lunches
Idol making foundry slaving
for cattle cabin sweat shop wages
The more things change, the more they stay the same,
‘cause they still be breaking our brokenheart backs
Cotton picking weaving more fine linen from the flax —
clothing the oppressors with white saintly attire
Increased their wealth with our free forced labor,
from chain immigration they didn’t have to hire
Took it from the Red and shackle turned it into Black,
our manifest destiny
was tied to the Underground Railroad tracks
As the Reparation train from Washington
is 400 years past due ... way overdue
Overworked and underpaid,
we be the modern version
of old-school pimped slaves
And abolished justice been long overdue
During this wretched length of time,
in the ghetto wilderness,
the Judah seed survived and grew
And the prayer cornstalk cries are reaching up
to heavenly listening ears too
Hearing our manna request,
God’s gift-gave to all,
for the sake of remnant us, the very best
Thankful that I’m gonna die free,
having the cross of Christ blood
cover the last drawn air I breathe
Such a nail driven,
soul-searching awakening —
this is the essence of me
My family is the Jesus seed!
Resurrection generation of eternal stars yet-to-be
Alpha and Omega angelic pedigree,
now freed sin slave awakening —
this is the essence of me
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2018
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