I Lift My Voice

Lift every voice and sing…
My president is black, and I can thank Dr. King.
But long before he had a dream, our ancestors laid the foundation for great things.
There is no American history, without black history, yet it seems our contributions remain a mystery
So…
Lift every voice and sing…
For Bessie Coleman, the first black pilot…now that’s fly, And after her, the Tuskegee airmen soared high
Lift every voice and sing…
For decades before Oprah earned a billi, Madam CJ Walker made a milli
Lift every voice and sing…
For the very hands that labored in the fields picking cotton, Became the same hands to complete the first open heart surgery, Thank you Dr. Daniel Hale Williams for your brilliancy
Lift every voice and sing…
For Crispus Attucks who laid down his life so that the bells of freedom may toll, for those that followed the northern star, traveling the Underground Railroad to freedoms door.
Lift every voice and sing…
My president is black, and I can thank Bro. Malcolm for that.
He told us that a man that stands for nothing will fall for anything…he showed us how to stand proud, while the godfather of soul told us to “Say it loud.”
Lift every voice and sing…
For Dr. Maya Angelou, who tells us why the caged bird sings…Her words enabled me to rise, and walk phenomonally in my strides…
Lift every voice and sing…
For Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Jordan, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King
Lift every voice and sing…
For they enslaved our bodies, but not our minds, our endurance has passed the test of times…
So…
Lift every voice and sing…
For Phyllis Wheatly, who through slavery created poetry that allows me, today, to stand and do me
Lift every voice and sing…
For Huey, Bobby, Angela, and Stokely…They showed us that we had power as a people…
Lift every voice and sing…
For 4 little girls who never had the chance to save the world, but together, you and me, we do…
That’s why, I, Lift my, voice, and sing…
The emancipation proclamation was our freedom declaration…
Free At Last?!
I’m not sure about that Dr. King, so I hold on to your dream.
But I do know this for a fact…My president is black…
Yeah…
My president is black, your president is black, our president is black…
And we can thank our ancestors for that.
We stand on the shoulders of Kings and Queens…
So lift every voice and sing…
For strong are WE, and mighty is our History.

Copyright © 2009 by kelic All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this may be used or reproduced in without the author's consent.

The Weary Blues

Langston Hughes

(1923)

1 Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
2 Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
3 I heard a Negro play.
4 Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
5 By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
6 He did a lazy sway ....
7 He did a lazy sway ....
8 To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
9 With his ebony hands on each ivory key
10 He made that poor piano moan with melody.
11 O Blues!
12 Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
13 He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
14 Sweet Blues!
15 Coming from a black man's soul.
16 O Blues!
17 In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
18 I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan--
19 "Ain't got nobody in all this world,
20 Ain't got nobody but ma self.
21 I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
22 And put ma troubles on the shelf."
23 Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
24 He played a few chords then he sang some more--
25 "I got the Weary Blues
26 And I can't be satisfied.
27 Got the Weary Blues
28 And can't be satisfied--
29 I ain't happy no mo'
30 And I wish that I had died."
31 And far into the night he crooned that tune.
32 The stars went out and so did the moon.
33 The singer stopped playing and went to bed
34 While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
35 He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

Addicted...

I've been tagged...I followed Miss_Me to her spot and realized I had been tagged...

and y'all now I don't like to play outside, but I thought I would go ahead and oblige this time. Not tagging anyone else...I don't have time to run behind y'all. *winks*

So...I am apparently suppose to list my five addictions. Just five? Well, I guess certain people not acting right makes it a bit easier because I am no longer addicted to talking to them...but that's a whole other post...

1. Ice Cream...Coldstone banana with caramel and pecans was my addiction, but there are no more Coldstone's in the ATX...so I am back to basics, how it all started, Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla...although a vanilla shake from Jack 'N the Crack can get it on and pop'n.

2. Internet...OMG! My computer crashed...and since I have access to my sister's anytime I need it, I decided to disconnect my Internet service...man! At home without Internet...going through withdrawals for real...cold sweats...all that. I am looking into getting a laptop and reconnected quick, quick, quick!

3. Mooyah Burgers...they are a little taste of heaven. Two cheesy, greasy, beef patties, on a freshly made bun, with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, bread and butter pickles, and grilled onions...let's not forget the fresh cut fries...I have to hit up Mooyah at least once a week...although it's been almost two weeks since my last burger...I'm trying y'all.

4. Trey Songz...I don't know what it is, but whenever I am in front of a computer, I have to youtube Trey or sign into Pandora and listen to my Trey Songz station...I soooo have a crush...I think it might be going a little too far. Now, I am listening to We Need To Roll, Joe ft. Trey Songz, over and over and over. HELP!

and that leads me to my 5th addiction...

5. YouTube...this site is evil! But I love it! I watch General Hospital on YouTube...just this saturday I was watching the Players Ball episode of Martin on YouTube. Other than Trey Songz, my latest YouTube fascinations are J Setters and Alexxys K. Tylor...if you don't know about her, look her up...she will for sure entertain you.

Hmmm...

I could have kept going, never realized I had so many addictions.

An H Y M N to the EVENING.

SOON as the sun forsook the eastern main
The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain;
Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr's wing,
Exhales the incense of the blooming spring.
Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes,
And through the air their mingled music floats.

Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are spread!
But the west glories in the deepest red:
So may our breasts with ev'ry virtue glow,
The living temples of our God below!

Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light,
And draws the sable curtains of the night,
Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav'nly, more refin'd;
So shall the labours of the day begin
More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.

Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,
Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise.

-Phillis Wheatley

What now?

We are 38 days in and 2009 has not been my year…

Still taking the lay off in stride…interviewing…have not found the “right” fit just yet…

I have an interview on Thursday, the money is right…just not head over heels about the job itself…we shall see.

I am wondering if I am going about this the right way…

Maybe I have not found the “right fit” because I am not going down the right path.

Is it meant for me to venture out on my own? But that takes capital…how am I suppose to raise the money to do that? What am I supposed to do in the interim?

Am I supposed to use my musical talents? Am I supposed to write? And if so, what do I need to focus on writing…music? Literature? I already have two uncompleted books, and I already have ideas for another…I also have an idea for a screen play…so many ideas, where do I start?

What am I supposed to be doing with my life at this moment?

I pray for clarity, I pray for direction, I pray for peace of mind.

Pray with me.