love is an offering

Please don’t tell me You don’t see color   Don’t worry I ain’t mad at you I’m just confused Why don’t you? Would you look at a sunset and say “Oh I don’t see its radiance” Or feel the breeze of a Colorado summer morning and say “Oh I don’t feel that cool breeze on my face”? Now I’m not delusional I know I’m not a sunset or a morning breeze But I am a man A black man And I see you, brother So please don’t tell me You don’t see me Ignoring our diversity Is not bringing us closer together It’s creating an invisible wall of silence Acceptance because I assimilated is not acceptance And pretending that I “fit in” when I don’t creates suspicion and ignorance Fear and tension The Enemy uses these weapons to create the borderlines between us So talk to me I want to talk to you Listen to me I want to listen to you We don’t have to agree on everything Believe it or not I don’t agree with every black person I know either But...

Chores I never thanked God That I could clean Doing chores like mopping floors Never apart of my dream They never made my prayer request I cannot lie Until I learn the difference Between what and why “What” is the task you do with your hands But “why” is the part that few understand The reason behind your dreams and plans See, scrubbing floors can change a man So the answer to why I’m wiping stains Is not that difficult to explain It’s something deep inside, engrained See my mother was willing to do the same So the legacy of sacrifice Was passed down to me Why am I doing chores at night? Cause I love my family I love my family.

Thank you... For each and every voice that spoke life into me In and out of season For family who became friends and friends who became family In and out season For those who gave their all, so I could give it right back In and out of season For the love, the hugs and the cussing out when I needed it In and out of season For the brothers at the barber shop who never let me get out of that chair without reminding me that I was more than a haircut In and out of season For that old man who learned how to read so he could fulfill his calling to preach In and out of season For the king who became a slave because He wanted to set me free In and out of season Thank you.