Favored-- a song

I can't tell--
I can't tell you
What to do
I can't even tell
you
not
to
cry

But might I suggest
You fall on your face
and thank the Lord
for giving you grace
while singing
"Favored, Favored, am I"



chrous

Favored, favored am I
favored, favored am I
You blessed be Lord
with your best
Overlooked my unworthiness
and so i sing
"Favored, favored, am I"

They may have left
left you
in the cold
and just walked on by


But might I suggest
You fall on your face
and thank the Lord
for giving you grace
while singing
"Favored, Favored, am I"

for dreamgirls

hug upon
my curves
like a road untraveled
golden thread unraveled
from a silken gown
my landscape is none other than lovely
plunging, daringly full
and dreamed stitched

do you dream as well as
you dine, drunkenly they ask me
or maybe as well
as you sleep
ma?
avec la vie si douce,
pourquoi vous rêver?


you watch
i'll walk upon me with
young come hither eyes
yellow flower
in my tender hair, child
spirit meek, but never mild

star too hot to touch
but
the spindle pricks like this

as you sleep on the beauty
that your fantasy
is too small
to capture
in your baby bottles


but you just keep on rubbin'--
waiting for a wish

the stilled soul

the stilled soul
surrenders
to life
opens its
ample mouth
kissing today
then
breathing in the
whimsical womb world
of
distilled
love
lets go

harlem is (a reflection)

harlem is
hips
hardwood
big bodied bricks
legacy rising
like the sun

bathing brownstones
over high highs

the pitter patter of
ten thousand feet
in a dream deep breath
echoing against
the ear of
New York --


music.

"eat your epicurean"

in my
so called naivete
I
withheld nothing
from you
believing that you would not steal
what was given freely

I cooked.
and seared.
and chopped.
and simmered.
and basted
tenderly,
with the best
wines---

I lost
my lover
a latent
rapist
who liked tender things
rare and chilled
even a head held high.

I no longer cook your meals
although I am seared with the scent
of your sex

a love
inverted;
it went down well,
but ended angry;
a spiteful
spicy
after taste
that leaves my mouth
bitter and sore with words

Fusion (coming together)

(spoken)
Tasting the weight of my own
worth,
I was satisfied
beacause I was redeemed

(sung)
How much would it cost you
to dream your own dream?
Potentially
Live your own life?
Potentially?
Is all that you are and will ever be
Wrapped up in your potentiality
Or are you just yearning
To be free
From the potential
I see

(spoken)
If time were to reach over and touch itself
And all that was left was the
scent of utter expectation
petal soft and sweet
but deep like death
would it smell as sweet once your breathed the last breath
would you even expect to breathe it in
I’m saying this young men
Before you get locked into
Your potential, unrealized

(sung)
What is a measure of a man’s worth
If not his worth
Not net worth
But expect worth
Expect that worth is worth something
Not because it is assigned
Or taken
But because it is lived

(spoken)
If you go to try to buy your soul
You’ll discover that you will never be able to pay the price
Of something which you live in
But don’t own

Do you live with the
Gloat of your ghosts
Of dreams that your dreamed so well
That you could almost smell
But have not lived to tell?
Is it so easy to live and die
From what we barter and sell
For 30 sheckles and a prize

(sung)
Is your God given potential
Simply a token prize
That you wear around your neck
To show the next man
That you, could be
That you would be
Can be taken if tried?

With every living breath of
All the tears of mothers who birthed sons who have died
Keeping their eyes on an unwinnable prize

(spoken and sung)
With every prayer that God hears
More frequent than gunshots
And lots
Cast for the man that deep down
You think you could never be
Inked by destiny
Potentially, realized?
Is the man you long to be the one that stares you in your eyes
When you reflect
Or have you become the enemy
You protect?

(sung)
But oh how I long to see you fly
In your worth
That is so prized
That even God died
That one
The rebellious, unloved son
Resillent repentance is in the way
A father takes his son by the shoulders
And say I understand
I believe you can be the man you dream you can
Think you can
Not by power, or by might, but by the stripes
Of my hand

(spoken)
That mold you
Holds you
Consoles the spirit of what
You gave up so long ago to an enemy
That will take it from you
That keeps on taking it and taking it and taking it
Until
And deny the charge
That sold you an empty bag
And left

(sung)
Flesh of my flesh
Breath of my breath
God gave you potential
Not to sell it
But to use it
Not to sell it
But to use it
Not to sell it
But to use it
The potential of your soul is already bought

searching

looking for the answer
in an ocean
of questions

hope may float
but
i am without a life jacket

That Feeling (song)

Chorus
Lovely as a ray of sun
that touches me when the mourning comes
and it feels good

Brilliant as the bright blue sea
when the peace of God washes over me
and it feels good

verse i.
It feels good
Not the kind of good you feel
when you've got money in your hand

It feels good
not the kind of good you feel
when you're out chillin' wit your man

It feels good
not the kind of good you feel when you've got your
hair did, nails did, and you know you're looking fine
It feels good
it's that kind of feeling that's soul appealing
when He says the battle's not yours, but mine
holy and divine

Chorus
Lovely as a ray of sun
that touches me when the mourning comes
and it feels good

Brilliant as the bright blue sea
when the peace of God washes over me
and it feels good

verse ii.
It feels good
to know that everyday you've got peace
regardless of circumstance

It feels good
To know if you ain't got a dime to your name
you can shout and dance

It feels good
to know you can lift your eyes
and help will come
when it looks like you have lost

It feels good
to know no matter what you've said or done
he has paid the price
He has paid the cost

Chorus
Lovely as a ray of sun
that touches me when the mourning comes
and it feels good

Brilliant as the bright blue sea
when the peace of God washes over me
and it feels good

It feels good
Lord you've been better to me
than I could ever be
to myself
and I thank ya
It feels good
Jesus you've been
better to me
than I could ever be to myself
and Lord I thank ya

Jesus, real love
Jesus, my real love
Jesus, is real love
Real love, real love..

(Spoken)
Some folks
wanna talk about the man that made them good last night
But I wanna sing about the man who woke me up this morning

the dust of the damned

of ashes, and only ashes we send them
tall black
walking
referendums
men in hats
colored by their smug grins
dreams dressed in ties, a bit to snug

who took the dream
from its box
and made it display
a mausoleum
rather than
shiny-new-ready-for-assembly?

who undressed our civil memory
caught in the haze of breezy talk
lifted up what we skirt
and revealed
what men left uncovered?

what won't men steal in the name
of freedom
and hand over for
thirty sheckles and a prize?

people need to believe
in their heroes
so agonizingly
they become their breath
they mold the lie with their hearts
until gold and gleaming
it tarnishes like silver

how are you? my sister, they say smiling.
my brothers who hang their hat on my heart
shine their shoes with my bruise
pay their rent with my debt
but would not offer me a cold glass of water
for my thirst

the truth is,
YOU wouldn't understand if I told you
so instead I will pray
and be patient.

besides
who am I to smother
their lungs
with the greedy kiss
of truth?
who am I to be
cupping and sucking
an open nose
of gods, who are but ashes
men, who are but dust?

the truth, for those who really want to know

i. look

i seem to be lost
in my own integrity
searching for my core



ii. know

It has been said that God knows
The inner person of the heart
we do not need to wear it
on our sleeves
or vests like
buttons