Blackish Blues
by Tyshawn Smithers 

Every night, as the star had risen
The thought of escape would cross
We divulged our truths and hearkened their lies
Over pain that would never leave and freedom that was lost

Inquiring the Man Upstairs, we questioned “what did we do?”
Accustomed to torment, death had become lush
We wept in the mix of the commotion
Become silence, practice prayer, but never you fuss

They now cry tears of gas through lesions of incarceration
Where brilliance is attacking their might
In the backdrop stands an entity feigning duty imbued with silence
While Jims are being garnished, and crows soar through the night

Too black, too brown, too greasy and animalistic
A people are burning from a tattoo-like fire
One clause there creates a protest here
Oh look, Ferguson is winning but Plessy is tired

They claim peace where peace is absent
There will be change when separation says bye
Grieve, oh grieve, ungrateful supreme
For this world shall wither when black things die