Like It Is

It was just the facts of life.
Adolescent conversations I'd wished I had
So that maybe now
I'd be a little less awkward
Better socially prepared
Not nearly as shocked
When I want to taste from the cornucopia
And my knuckles are rapt
Because well,
Society still doesn't want me.

It was just the facts of life
I repeated throughout the years;
You are a black male first
And that alone makes you an enemy of the state
And despite whatever monumental success you attain
Prepare for it all to be snatched away;
Society will take every opportunity to remind you of your place.

It was just the facts of life
They joked about.
Throwing stereotypes like javelins
Olympians longing for the gold
Perpetrating
Emulating
Sustaining
And unbeatable record of discord
Against the slap-happy notion
We can all get along if we try.

Differences stoke the fire
Abnormalities just the same
The mind is a temple easy to build
But to tear down, once fortified
Futile;
Irrelevance the song
Echoing each time I hear them
Know where they came from
Where they are headed
Leaving me to weep
Because solutions,
Escape as easily as the wind from lungs it takes
To produce the pain of repetitive ignorance.
©2014clarencecbess