The New 'Massa'

America has always been about color;

not black,

not white,

not brown,

not yellow;

not any skin color

of the human race;

slavery was never about race

or white supremacy,

slavery was about economics,

pure and simple,

using black men just

made it feasible,

gave it a sort of

justified nobility;

did skin color matter to the Romans

when they enslaved conquered nations?

did it matter to African chiefs and sultans

who enslaved their own people,

then sold them to white slave traders?

do you really think plantation owners

cared about the skin color

of their cheap, disposable work force?

don’t you think they would have used

poor, uneducated whites and saved

all those costs of traveling

half way around the world

if they could have gotten

away with it?

but the truth is they couldn't,

so they justified it with black men

brought from the dark continent of Africa;

after all,

they weren't real men;

were they?

but it was never about race

or the color of skin,

it was always about

something much deeper,

it was about those who have,

taking from those who have not;

fear of homelessness and starvation

has replaced bullwhips and chains,

fear of losing what little one has,

along with crumbs from the

‘massas’ table,

has provided the new slaves

of choice;

the new ‘massas’ come in all colors,

but they all have one color in common,

green is the color of true

power and domination,

green is the color of the new ‘massa’;

but then it was all along

wasn't it?

America has always been about color.

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Nothing Without The LORD

America has become obsessed

with youth and good looks,

beauty and paper diplomas

have taken the place

of experience and know how,

ability is secondary

next to designer jeans

and flashy smiles;

with a sigh you let it go,

once and for all,

throwing open the

massive locked gates,

allowing entry and exit

without charge,

a free concert for all,

with no hope for tomorrow

or the day after;

what else is there?

what more could be left?

squeezing out every little drop,

making more with less,

spreading around the harvest

like butter on a hot piece

of toast,

filling every nook,

saturating every cranny,

choking on the excess,

swallowing the vile;

settling for leftovers;

all the warm moments,

all the fond memories,

mean nothing

in the final analysis,

they are but dust,

here today and

gone tomorrow,

I have always been one

of the ‘go to’ guys,

now I am wasted space,

useless information,

yesterday’s news,

I need a new identity,

new goals

and different reasons,

loftier aspirations;

a new place to call home;

winter is approaching,

with no way of knowing

if the proper preparations

are complete,

but then one can never

be sure or not,

can they?

so it makes very

little difference

after all;

when you’re younger

you see things through

different eyes,

when you’re young

you still have hope,

you still see the world

in terms of possibilities

not finalities and

dead end streets,

you assume the best

without looking for the

worst;

now you sit around

waiting for the check to come

in the mail,

the roller coaster ride is

almost finished,

the thrills are almost gone,

just one more left;

and it will come

soon enough;

it makes you wonder

if you’ll ever stop being

afraid again,

but inside you know you will

because there is One so much greater

than you

to calm your fears,

to soothe your pain;

America you have nothing;

all your big trucks

and fancy new cars,

all your 300 thousand dollar

homes and shopping malls,

paid for with blood

and borrowed time,

are nothing,

in the end they will rust

and crumble into

the ground;

for they are nothing

without the LORD

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Hold on to Tomorrow

all our lives,

we wait for better days,

sitting at kitchen tables

in the middle of the night,

listening to the voices

speaking inside our silent heads,

waiting for a morning sunrise

just over the horizon;

I have seen your darkness,

I have felt your fear,

I have known your emptiness,

I have been where you are;

I look into the night,

I run from the past,

I search for the answers,

I hear the distant call,

forever trapped

by man-made ideas

and thoughts,

continually caught

within self-made visions

and illusions;

brave new paths lie ahead,

reach for the shining light,

hold on to tomorrow,

don’t give up the fight;

the prize awaits,

the fog does slowly fade,

nighttime darkness crawls away,

dreams no longer hide,

somewhere just past midnight,

detour signs appear,

as a different road beckons,

a new way revealed,

a road which never ends,

a road to call our own,

a road stretching into the future,

a road that takes us home,

where we can lay our

tired, battered heads;

hold on to tomorrow,

don’t give up the fight.

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Any Less

Note: In the past I've had people casually read this and totally misunderstand the message I was trying to convey. This poem was written while working at a minimum wage job in a deli in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where I worked with mostly women, many of whom were very poor and struggling to take care of children on the very small wages paid by our employment. I watched these women, many the same ages as my own daughters, on several occasions, have to take verbal and emotional abuse, bite their tongues, then go into the back and cry. I started to write this one day after watching a snowbird couple bitterly complain about their cheese thickness to a young woman and then later as I was leaving, seeing that couple get in their brand new Ford F-350 with an 'I Love Jesus' front license plate. I had intended it to be an angry editorial on the hypocrisy of many so called 'Christians', but before I had completed it the Lord spoke very strongly to me and if you read it all the way through will realize that it became something entirely different.

It’s easy to love Jesus

when you drive a brand new

F-350 diesel,

while vacationing

for the winter in your

100 thousand dollar RV

in Gulf Shores, Alabama,

taking charter bus

trips to Biloxi

for a night at

the casinos;

easy when you live

in middle-class America,

surrounded by all your

healthy, happy children

and plump,

giggling grandchildren,

with your body free

from pain,

not twisted and grotesque

by diseases like aids and cancer,

not panting and short of breath

from clogged arteries to the heart,

because you have

health insurance and can afford

the best medical treatment

available,

with all the specialists and

bypass surgeries money can buy;

yes, it is easy then.

not so easy,

when you go through life

worried and afraid,

worried about feeding your children,

worried about providing a shelter

over their heads,

worried about the lump

growing on your child’s arm,

unable to get it tested,

because you have

no health insurance,

praying for the strength

to get through

one more day,

as you go to your

low paying job,

where America’s elite

treat you like a hired servant,

because they have money

and drive diesel powered F-350s,

with ‘I Love Jesus’ on the

front license plate

and you don’t;

some day we will all

be the same,

standing before a holy

and righteous God,

and I wonder how they

will answer then,

when they see themselves

speaking with derision and disgust

to the person working

for minimum wage,

because their cheese was sliced

a millimeter thicker

than requested,

or because they had to wait

more than 5 minutes

in the checkout line,

I wonder who will be blessed then,

I wonder if their

diesel powered F-350s

with the ‘I Love Jesus’

front license plates

will mean anything then;

then He speaks to me;

reminding me

that He walked this earth

with nothing,

in spite of being the King

to whom everything belongs,

that He endured

humiliation and torment

without ever once complaining

or hating,

that even though

He was the greatest,

He became the servant of many,

laying down his life for all,

paying a cost only

He could pay,

doing the will of the Father

despite the suffering and pain,

giving us the example

to be followed,

proving that He loves us all

unconditionally and without favor,

even those who drive

brand new F-350s

with ‘I Love Jesus’

front license plates;

and He asks me;

“Is the servant greater than the master?”

as I quietly (and humbly) think to myself;

should I do any less?

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The True Vine

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”                    John 15:1-5

You are the true vine

I am the branch,

apart from You

I am nothing,

within You

I become fruitful;

within You

I am a son

of the living God;

Your light is greater

than words can express,

Your love fills

even the deepest valley,

Your words speak truth

far beyond

what my limited mind

can comprehend;

hold on to me

forever.

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Do Not Fear

alone in the shadows,

lost with no way home,

frightened and confused,

heading for destinations unknown,

do not worry,

do not fear;

God is near;

in the darkness,

in the light,

within the sorrow,

within the joy,

through the suffering,

through the pain,

through times both

good and bad

do not worry,

do not fear;

God is near;

all things pass,

all things fade,

but His mercy

endures forever,

His love knows no bounds,

so rest your tired head

my troubled and

frightened child;

do not worry,

do not fear;

God is near.

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Deliver Me

within nighttime dreams,

I walk in cold, forsaken places,

dark, dead lost places;

far beyond the reach of hope;

I listen to the suffering,

I hear the sorrow,

I feel the pain,

I know the emptiness;

they are places through which

I have walked before;

when I awake

You are there,

standing by my side,

never letting go,

never walking away,

renewing and healing me,

blessing me when I deserve nothing,

forgiving me

when I cannot forgive myself,

reminding me that without You

I can never overcome;

deliver me O Lord

from dark, dead places,

lost and forgotten places,

hidden within the

shadows of dreams;

take away the emptiness

as only You can;

hold me now,

bathe me in Your light,

fill me with Your love,

surround me with Your glory,

let me belong to You forever;

my Savior,

my King,

my God,

my Everything.

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