Subj : [CHRISTIA] new poetry, "Matter" To : Practical Christian Life From : Mark Date : Sun Jun 14 2020 12:57:45 From: lamppoet@CENTURYTEL.NET (Mark) About what matters. "Matter" ("Tie them on your hands and wear them on your foreheads to help you remember my teachings." Deuteronomy 6:8) We need no further instruction, we are full, we are satisfied; We do not need the signs along the boulevard, and please do not bring them to my neighborhood. My Life Matters: that's all you need to know. My Life Matters, but has never been mistaken for a felon. My Life Matters, and I can trace my relatives back to tobacco and cotton farms, bogs and peats before crossing in hope, the Great Blue. My portage was paid, my travel discretionary. My Life Matters: where would you be without me? Your Life Matters? Of course, but only as it relates to me. Your Life Matters: And your relatives crossed the same Tossing Sea, though I grant you against their will. But the climate was better, and jobs awaited you once you brought the right price at auction. Your Life Matters: but I just don't see why you are making such a fuss. Weren't you freed? Aren't you living the Dream? I know the school where you live sits like an abandoned air force base; sand in the bubblers, weeds between the crumbling pavement cracks. Black Lives Matter, and after letting time rush between our feet, the river we never catch, and after letting reason have sway over the reflexes that make our mouth into a muttering mass of artillery rounds, we pause And honor your suffering without cause. We will only say All Lives Matter when we put, at the head of our line, those forced to the back and beyond empathy's reach. Until then I (cannot speak for "we" now) will honor the Meaning of every sorrow, every grief, every cloud that should not have perched above the barrel of a gun too quickly squeezed by an officer of the Peace. I will honor the Uniforms who embrace the best wisdom, who sit at the feet of the inner city father long enough to hear, who let themselves weep at another neighbor's pain, who, along with their tears, look humbly in the eyes of a black man's grief, and lead the amen, the rhythm of brotherhood alive again, and can repeat the humble refrain, the quiet unison above the foolish chatter; "I understand now, and with you say, without doubt, without deceit.. Black Lives Matter Without deceit, mark p. lamppoet@centurytel.net Mark's Blog (to be removed from the list, simply reply with the request: "Please remove". God's best!) For subscription information, visit To leave the list, send the command UNSUB CHRISTIA to LISTSERV@LISTS.ASU.EDU --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .