A Letter to Black Men

A Letter to my Brother

So let me be honest without accusation

First and foremost telling you as a child you were my nation

There was nothing that I believed that you could not achieve

For through high school and sometimes college, you I did see

Then there was a rash of irresponsibility

Actions made without direction, thought, or planning you see

While I still loved you and thought marriage and your seed

You stopped wanting, desiring, and loving me for me

You began to chase all that you could see

Quality became irrelevant to thee

My belief and love in you, to you a fallacy

Silently I watched and waited for value in me

Spending my time developing myself you see

Faith, college, travel, and career was my focus

Never thinking to you I was never in your heart a notion

Patiently I watched as you left traces of your seed everywhere

For me, quality, it was apparent that my punishment for you to leave

As my accomplishments remained financially on track

A few achieved but most fell flat on your back

You became a wanted commodity

Requesting that every woman serve your every need while waiting in line for thee

With the request that you simply only show up

Patiently from your tricks I thought you would eventually grow up

Only to find that you never did

You forgot the seed of our ancestors dreams

Forgetting marriage and working together comes naturally

But instead you became addicted to lies and thighs

Jezebel's that you bestow gifts while they, behind polite smiles, plot your demise

You blame me for not prostituting myself

Accepting you any way to me that you want to step

Now it's my fault for not being married

Waiting for a quality man and marriage before family

Looking at your situation and presentation wearily

This is not you

Perhaps I never knew

How to remain cold

Control

Have a rotten soul

Bent on taking everything I can get from you

My desire was to grow old together and love you

Maybe you can't be a better man because you've never seen

The beauty of life with a good woman and queen

But whatever the case may be

In your state you can not be my leader and king

For this is an appointed position

Intimacy without hugging and touching publicly

This interaction I will not be in submission

This woman on which you bestow everything

Is calculating, evil, and mean

But dysfunctional seems to be your new normal

Perhaps if you never loved yourself with love you can be formal

Patiently I wait reading every book about what's wrong with me

Watching everything from Patti Stanger to Steve Ward to Steve Harvey

Anita Baker could sing no truer lines in Fairy Tales then when she said
You never came to save me, you let me stand alone
Out in the wilderness, alone in the cold
I found no magic potion, no horse with wings to fly
I found the poison apple, my destiny to die
No royal kiss could save me, no magic spell to spin
My fantasy is over, my life must now begin

No one told me my desire to be your cheerleader and believer

Would make you disregard me

No one told me not cunning your out of all your money

Would make you never do anything for me

No one told me being loyal, faithful, and true

Would make me a “boring girl" to you

No one told me showering you with hugs and kisses would appear inappropriate

Would make you run from me

No one told me being educated with my priorities in place (property over gucci shoes)

Would make you look at me strange

No one told me being considerate and kind to you would make you run

Would make you seek a ho that can easily be won

But it's all my fault

It's all my fault

Dress like a whore with no goodness, that's top notch

It's all my fault

That you won't get a degree/trade

Prophylactics seem to escape your embrace

That I don't con you with a presentation full of the false and insincere

It's all my fault

That you embarrass our ancestors struggle and disrespect their blood

Opting for cars and shoes instead of affordable property and future investments

It's all my fault

I'm not fluent in the language and behavior of fools

So when the lines are crossed; people say black women hate themselves

When the truth is there is love for self but there are few healthy kinds available like self

Nas had it right when he released Cherry Wine

Where are the men that seek their devine

A woman with evidence of a good heart

Loving their man honestly accepting his spiritual and leadership from start

Men looking for quality and not low values