A note to James

 

I saw you today under moonlight and you bore my tools for more than forty years

And I thank you

for the blindfold with which I have tied myself,

has been          unraveled,

Exposing what light lies beyond the cloth.

 

The institution that keeps us separate

Played a role in the backdrop of this show

Where was your son when his sister fell desperate?

Desperate to the effects of Jim Crow

 

I wish you could feel as I did that day

Modern day vaudeville, the newest display.

Malcolm spoke to me

Spoke of what my dad failed to teach

While Martin held my body,

                        The body born of his hopes and dreams.

My legs always knew which way to go.

 

Since then, I have replayed that night in my head

Pale mirrors reflecting inward

Of strange faces I was met with instead.

Words echoed into a cave of self exploration.

 

Home is where my white cousins saw me

not for my color,

But for the hues that my aura reads.