ODE TO A BLACK AMERICAN SOLDIER



Forced to ride in the back o' the bus

Calmly under our breath we'd cuss

One nation, under God, in-visible

The good ol' days, the best of us

And time passed by and we kept on ridin'

Obedient and by the law abidin'

'Til the wave no more could be held back

'Til finally, we came out o' hidin'


Now we gonna stop the struggle

Now we gonna end the war

'Til they slip us a taste of their spoils

And we drop what we fightin' for


Come back home alive young brother

To put your arms around your mother

In this land o' the free and this home o' the brave

Where good boys learn just how to behave

And for the prettiest girls their smiles they save

Where whose tireless fathers their lives they gave

So parents need not dig one child's grave


Yeah, yeah... "greater love hath no man"

and - Look what they done to my song... BOY


See! No more legal segregation

Everybody votes in this great nation

Were Medgar and Chaney and Malcolm and King

A field of dreamers on an old plantation?

Now all of a sudden we're upwardly mobile

We're all independent, untethered and in style

We're mayors, in congress, we're senators - more

Even the White House is Black for awhile  


Soon we gonna stop the struggle

Soon we gonna end the war

But they slip us a taste of their spoils

And we quit what we fightin' for


Come back home alive young brother

To put your arms around your mother

In this land o' the free and this home o' the brave

Where good boys learn just how to behave

And for the prettiest girls their smiles they save

Where whose tireless fathers their lives they gave

So parents need not dig one child's grave


Blah, blah... "ask not what your country can do for you"

and - Play it again... SAM


Since Crispus Attucks' blood was spilled into this very ground

Here is where our fathers' sons have always been laid down

Longing, even begging for the terrible front lines

While at every crossroad mocked and scorned without renown

And when the monolith shall finally stand erect, unyielding

When there shall be no more weapons that we be wielding

When one nation, under God no longer is a lie

'Til finally we're remembered with a shining, regal shielding


Still we gonna stop the struggle

Still we gonna end the war

When they slip us a taste of their spoils

We forget what we fightin' for


Come back home alive young brother

And put your arms around your mother

Richard A Cummings
An American In Thought

R.A. Cummings (2007)
Copyright © IMARA Music

(revised 03-11-2012)

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