The Pretenses of Innocence

feelings in the winter of fam'ly

formed ghosts on the windows of ghettos

the agonized cities shaped

by the pretenses of innocence.

misused, abused, violence at hand

the niggras were hounded 'round

the fire-flares of lynchings

that stirs some children to smile

while their parents write the tales

of the lies wrapped in laughter

of the crimes behind their smiles.

as Christians they have nothing to fear.

the Parousia arrives without wrath.

their saints will be canonised

when their sponsors dole out the cash.

click here to erase

banish the truth from your eyes.

mention not the tears pouring o'er rainbows

forming 'pon the breath of dead Blacks.

for it now seems craziness

a laughable matter out of mind

a matter of degrees

for those wacky, wacky times.

but we rarely observe ourselves

by looking at life in the mirror

with eyes that seem to be mine

with blood streaming from my ears.

how crazy it is this enterprise 

this enterprise of being alive

living with the hist'ry of murderers

breathing within ones mind.

deep beneath my chin

in the ground-side of my face

are those others in the looking-glass

pounding in my ears

interacting with the mem'ries

writ 'pon their burnt-out flesh.

these buried scapegoats of yesteryear's

are the conscience of tomorrow.

they're the revelation of our hist'ry

unpretentious buried ghosts.