the legacy

the legacy
that is my journey
from child to man
from man to spirit
from spirit to master
is marked with death
along the road
the sign posts
and limitless speeds
in all directions
and dimensions
screaming horn talk
beating snares
sighing blue
crying ivory tears
breathing
the heart of the purest truth
bleeding
this blood soaked mantle
dripping pain
swung on trees
and hung from lamp post
these Jim Crow darlings
sipping the Massahs brandy
in bow ties
with shiny faces
oiled with fatback greased
limp curls fried with iron hot combs
singing white teeth
hearing Mr Charlie
yearning for self love
the respect of a Man
and the freedom of a soul
if I could have been there
and now
if I could have been now
skinny ties and labels
v-shaped blackness
in black and white
naive europeans in facistnation
of negrophilia
these layers
mounting up like eagles
flying as the wind
falling like white hooded sheets on
xylophonic melodic minors
and whole tone absolutisms
this Coltrane vector
in perfect geometric
silence
born as life from
modal Indian ragas
and holy occidental meditations
in worship
and rapture
as negro spirits
these sounds
are now
my own