Grandad I Will Always Remember You

Sometimes I wonder if you ever existed....

Conversations about you were often short and vague...

left out in the memories of some loved ones, never giving the true respect that you deserve, Grandad...

Society has never been kind to you and I am afraid many of your relatives haven’t been too.

No one seems to remember that you worked tirelessly and endlessly to make provisions for your family, or that you stood up and fought against anyone or anything that tried to break your family.

This poem is for you and those other Grandads, whose memories don’t stir anger or indifference…

Whose memories stir a great loss because you were a great man, who did the best you could, in a land where your kind was more despised than honored…

In a land where being a man of color was considered a symbol of inferiority.

My words won’t let them forget the likes of you… Your story with all the trials have a place at the family table, have a place in the minds of the children who don’t have a clue of what you went through being a Black Man in a Twisted America, that often forgot it own creed...

Some of us know your value, know your worth, and know what you did to bring stability to the family...

Some of us understand that you were a man who was constantly challenged, constantly fighting doors being closed on you and opportunities being snatched from you.

We know now that during your time, life was sometimes unbearable for men of color, yet you withstood those times with dignity and perseverance...

As one of the fruits of your roots, I send my love to your heavenly perch and I promise you will never be forgotten while I roam the earth...

This was written to remind the others about you.