Tall Trees
Tall Trees Burn More Wood
And the ashes have scattered
Many have picked-up the batten
Because it still matters
Maybe not the same pain but then again we still strive for our own Promise Land
Some turning points in history
Depending how you interpret the movement from the 1960’s
I feel the journey has come far
Though my humanness blurs my perspective - centuries of repression
What else would it do but leave scars?
Tall Trees
Can I really talk about the scenes from the past 50 years?
About all the things that helped toughen my hide
Through things that stole their pride and - for more than short moments made them cry
Can I actually contrast them days to now?
Could I live in those times with the fear of someone wanting to blow up my behind
for expressing these sensitive lines?
Makes me feel real grateful to be right here and right now
But would all mankind agree?
‘Cos aint there still life situations fraught with pain and desolation, war without cessation
and unseen misery?
Still, I have to figure a place
How do I make a difference?
It’s easy for the words to slip from these lips
But how do I answer that question that’s demanding like a lonely child, silently begging for affection?
However I make a difference it has to be major and not mild - I need to pay attention!
In comparison to the days of Martin Luther King
My stuff seems trivial - I shouldn’t have no complaints
While he worked for a promised land reality
I may encounter closed off gates
Making me feel I've come to late
See eyes that don’t hide hate
But we all in the same Race!
Our humanness is a collective thing that won’t outdate
Dr King shared his feelings despite as a consequence he died
His loving words unsettled the few that cut short his fight - and his life!
Did he declare like Maya Angelou; “And Still I Rise”?
The gift of life now I see as a prize
Tall Trees Burn Too
He threw the change into my leathered palm
Avoiding any physical contact
I recognized the fear – I got that
But my epidermis was covered from the tips to my exposed wrists
I was wearing gloves - he wouldn’t have got an illness if he had touched this
Whatever skin we’re lingering in
We all have the same workings of scabs seeping blood
The same pain – the same hidden strains
In all dimensions
It just feels like nobody else does
Tall Trees Stand
Hand in hand
Forgetting the backstreets
Expressing affection
It's dark, a little breezy
His wearing his hoody
Not to disguise the unsavoury
But to the slow-moving generation this can provoke real tension
…
However, his hand is in mine
And we steady, like a slow-moving train!
Our gazes concentrated, fixated - I have to look away
Did he see the fear on their faces
Maybe his strong disposition meant he wouldn’t have cared
Or, does he HIDE those moments it hurt too much for him to share?
A Tall Tree stands
And a Tall Tree burnt
Dr Martin Luther King
A by-product of your works - affected change
Like relentless ripples on a lake
You stood for you’re beliefs when the authorities wouldn’t protect
You convinced a whole heap of faces, from all kinds different places
To combine, causing great effect
Teaching loving changes
Not hiding their behaviour that was unsacred
Your dreams in embryonic stages at the time of your demise
Is this what you wanted to see with your own coloured eyes?
Love without disguise
No strings tied
All merging to feed
Flowing to the same stream
Is this apart of your prophecy apart of your ‘I Have a Dream’ speech
///
You a Tall Tree
A Tree that Stood
Tall Trees Burn More Wood
Written by Jo Spice
