DON’T TAKE DOWN MY RAGE!

…

…

Don’t fold my rage away

or pull it down

It’s tumult speaks

from out of the ground

The farmer knows

who turns the earth

Those seeds were sown

long before its birth

and since the tillers shanks

cut deep in lethal rakes 

The farmer knows for sure

when we’re making new mistakes

…

The mad dogs bay

its time to be afraid

Democracies shield explodes

when society implodes

All we count most dear

becomes the stuff of fear

Bring back the Beatles

cancel Armageddon

Don’t burn the barn down

with treasure’s inside hidden

Replace the rotting wood

With fresh timber that is good

…

Mississipi John Hurt, Robert Smalls

Arthur Ashe, Sachmo, Josiah Walls

They’re all down with Kaepernick

in history’s famous huddle

All those lives, deep footprints

In the Frederick Douglass ‘struggle’

James McCune Smith, the Louisville Lip,

Poitier, Sammy Davis, Ralph Ellison

All sculptures for a better world

where respect is earned not taken

Where children they may gather

and watch the world grow better

Without the stain of mob-rule,

vandalism, violence or terror

…

In nineteen seventy two

at the behest of my nurse friend Millie

we were invited to her Jamaican wedding

In a church hall deep in Balham

as guests we laughed and danced

and watched events unfold

We learned a different culture

we ate curry, rice n’beans

and shared in people’s dreams

There were gifts and greetings,

prayers and blessings given

and at 10.30 we left for home

We had spoken of a new day

that was coming for people of all colour

that was nineteen seventy two!

..

Stand in the box car

Stand in the tram

Stand on your soap box

Stand eatin’ chitlin’s

and hot, buttered yams

black-eyed peas,

pork chops and dumplings

Stand on your big red bus

Stand on your ladder

to get a better view

Stand with your eyes shut

Stand naked and true

Yes, stand in that history

of change from within

Everything else soon becomes

an unnecessary sin

Don’t muddy the crimson waters

of those who have been brave

On a day trip to Mutiny

with Sandra, Ben and Dave

…

writtenbyedenbraytoday

Ref. 15052020

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