Hey you there! You boy! Yeah you, come here!
Hell, I know you 48 years old  but a man ain’t nothin’ but a size extra-large boy pretendin’
he know why he wake up stinkin’ and coughin’ and fornicatin’ every day. So shut up and listen.
Boy I been watchin’ you for some weeks now,
Drivin’ that po’ pitiful wreck back an’ forth
to a job barely pay you 90 cents a day,
then goin’ home to that seven-foot woman
beatin’ on your butt like Ali hungry for his comeback.
It’s true boy, I sho nuff been watchin’ you sittin’ on
the toilet bowl of life, dreaming all the things some nice
hot prune juice could do for your constipated dispossession.
Singing your Lysol blues till they turn all funky red.

Well, boy, I want you to know:
I’m here to cry for your wretched behind
cause chances are nobody else gon give a shit.
So here, take this first tear for that time
you told your daddy you loved him
and he didn’t have a clue who you or your mama was.
This second tear is for when you stopped this morning
to smell some roses and three seagulls stopped to wipe
their rumps on your head. Damn nasty feathered heathens.

But we can’t cry just for ourselves, so this next batch of tears
is for the amputated refugees of Sierra Leone and the
genocide children of Rwanda and Somalia, yes, and no,
for the raped flesh of the earth and the prostituted genius of poets,
O’ for the sorrows and horrors of this world I slam
the drums of my blood and who dares dance with me!?
For the power-drunk tyrants and junkie-fevered bombers,
for the drowned prophets of Haiti and the slaughtered
humbles of Asia I weep a crimson tsunami of exploded hearts.
O’ for the shame and pain of this life I belch the nails
of my tormented soul and who dares howl with me!?

Damn, boy, this crying for the world can wear your ass out.
Did I tell you I fell asleep under a bridge for 20 years
and while I dreamed people used and abused me bad?
Still I got a head like a hammer and a heart like the moon.
All kinds’a things we could cry for in this world
but then I noticed that same seven-foot woman
who slapped your butt upside down came home yesterday
with brand new twin boys look just like you.
And that uncle who boots you used to polish
Sent out a letter sayin’ he leavin’ you everything he got.

Funny how life stab one cheek then kiss the other.
We can cry for years but sometimes gotta smile too.
You want this handkerchief I just blew my nose on?
Since we cryin’ here together boy I’ll give it to you for free.

Aberjhani
©5/12/2005