The Meaning...
Lines of wisdom slither through her loose skin.
Her crude limbs signify a strength, given to few men.
Her skin is deep & as dark as our peoples past, here.
Her closed eyes signal that she’s cried her last tears.
Her wide nose mocks racial stereotype of us, now.
Her face is fierce, as told by her diagonally cut brows.
Her lips are black & have kissed many pains away.
Her silver hair is ancient wisdom, being gained today.
Her cheerful dress tells that she’s a Souther Baptist.
My tears tell that this is Grandma’s last sunrise..
..& it’s from a casket
Marry was a tortured child, & noone tried to save her.
Her father hated her because her mother died in labor.
The beatings, in the back of her mind, grew old & stale,
But the, marred, purple flesh of her back, told the tales.
Each slash cut deep into her skin & deeper into her soul.
She learned to take the pain & to, calmly, incur the cold.
She became stoic, & learned to trust & believe in few,
But Marry’s, nervous, twitch constantly spoke of the abuse.
She kept her head up though, & wiped away the tears.
She refused to roll into a ball, & fall prey to fears.
She didn’t stop smiling, & through the blood & strife,
Her piece-of-shit father could take away her love of life.
... she wouldn’t let the pain define her life.
A drifter at age 17; there is nowhere she can stay.
A year later, her first child is conceived through rape.
Her baby reminds her of being taken on that dark night.
She sees her rapist in his eyes & her, fragile, heart cries.
It’s hard enough, being a single mother, to make it.
Even harder when your child looks just like your rapist.
Marry keeps going though, & nurtures her boy.
His fast learning & pretty smile, soon, further her joy.
He is her life, & you can’t measure the love she gives,
Making sure his childhood is better than the one she lived
...she wouldn’t let the pain define her life.
At age 64, God Almighty handed her a death sentence.
Even though she praised, & was his best witness,
She was stricken with a vicious cancer & waiting to die,
But she didn’t get frustrated and hurl hate at the skies.
She just smiled & lived life, enjoying every second.
She didn’t curse God for this. She thanked him for blessings
I wondered & asked why she didn’t grow cold & cry
So My grandmother spoke & told me why:
The meaning of life..
That’s why; the meaning of life..
When I look back on life, I don’t really see the bads,
Or become defined by torturous dreams I had
My wise smile comes from how I perceive the past.
When I look back, I don’t see my father beating me
I don’t see being raped that dark evening, see?
I don’t see cancer eating me away from the inside
I don’t see all the times that my friends died.
I see overcoming hate and learning to smile at it
I see raising my child when they though I couldn’t hack it
I see the fun times I had with my friends when they lived
I see that I’m blessed to be here to see my grand-kids
Learning the meaning of life is a heavenly design, above
The meaning.. Life, in retrospect, is defined by love
I cry at her funeral, but of joy; not the reason she’s dead.
And I wear a smile, as her words repeat in my head;
Learning the meaning of life is a heavenly design, above
The meaning.. Life, in retrospect, is defined by love
Thanks for he love you gave.
RIP
Grandma
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ur so damn good
