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"I Am Black, but Comely"
"I am black, but comely"
yet the world wants to see me
cover my wool with a head full of weave
and alter my skin
using lightening creams
and straighten my hair
with relaxers and heat
yet I'm Mother Earth which Adam called 'Eve'
Sheba
Nzinga
Latifah
the Queen
"fairest among women"
beginning and ending
the famed Rose of Sharon
the belle of the lilies
wombs built for war
as the devil's achilles
from Zion
Morocco
and all the Antilles
"I am black, but comely"
having picked grapes and cotton
gathered straw and brick
dispersed at slave auctions
raped upon ships
yet these hips
enticed Solomon
which slave masters bruised
through whippings and flogging
wrestled the devil
that pulled our hip socket
changing our name
and we couldn't stop it
erased our identity
when we came to be hunted
erased our history
before the sixteen hundreds
all good to them
if we could stay blunted
arresting our men
so we're all welfare funded
they push dogs in strollers
yet black lives are redundant
but you without me
there would be
no abundance
"I am black, but comely"
an absorption of all colors
cacao mixed with honey
sweetest of all lovers
brown sugar
cinnamon
dipped in shea butter
remnants of me
on each land you "discovered"
nursed at my breast
when there weren't any others
Now, where would you be if I weren't
your Mother?
Written by: ©Johndca Spencer 2019 All Rights Reserved
*Quotation marks indicate some phrases taken from the Holy Bible.
Song of Solomon 1:5, 1:8, 5:9, 6:1"
