I remember,
when as a child,
I noticed for the first time,
beauty,
the sort that remained with me,
for the rest of my life.
Oh it came in a smile,
a long and enduring hug,
a remark
a passerby whom might notice,
or help or assist, or wonder,
rather than showing
some practiced
ignorance.
For many years,
I’ve wandered through doors,
often wide open, without a need,
for a knock, or a password, or a latch key,
all evidence of the freedoms
I did feel as a child,
a young teenager,
an aspiring and hopeful
adult.
Along the way, I discovered,
race.
I remember the first time, well perhaps
there were many before,
a friend of mine,
in a fit of laughter, his own,
helped to shield my embarrassment,
we were talking iconic,
a Hollywood star,
I named the wrong person,
and he chuckled and said with clarity,
‘no the other black guy.’
See, I’ve now wandered for years,
found many stories,
heard a lot of different controversy,
created
of course a few of my own,
and in all that time,
I look around the room tonight,
and that oyster,
that metaphor,
that penchant for society to suggest
we all own ourselves …
that responsibility,
does let me breathe I suppose.
Yet I want a little bit more,
so in the years ahead,
perhaps a vocal sojourn
is merited,
to show the beauty and grace,
inherent in a wonder,
in the human condition,
in the freedom,
in some spiritual reckoning,
suggests,
we do, forever,
wander together.