I have a journey in mind

What can be sweet and kind

About this world in which we live

What does this morning give?

 

What is so important about Jordan

And my burdens

That I have to talk about them

Scream a little bit

Raise a little fit

 

Can you feel me? Oh, not yet?

Open your ears and I’ll bet

You’ll find me word important

Listen to me

And you’ll see

And you’ll understand about freedom

The coming kingdom

 

Don’t just sit there so clueless and numb

Come here and get some

“Some of what?” do you say?

What does this have to do with my day?

 

Well, you will see

In my story

About long past glory

When we were kings and queens

In a tropical world full of dreams

When we controlled our destiny

Whether good or bad we were free

But a day came of lost fame

When we became part of a broken game

 

With huts on fire

Men fed their evil desire

Women shackled and men in chains

Can you open your heart and feel their pains?

Some  made it

some did not

Across that ocean deep

Where millions now forever sleep

To a land called America

The one of the free and brave

Yet many came broken and enslaved

Where Plymouth Rock

Landed on those who did not land on Plymouth rock

But wait, there is still more and my story will not stop.

 

Cotton, sugar, and tobacco plantations

Became our only affiliation

Whips and broken families create self-alienation

Bleeding hearts and unfortunate ends

Became the destiny of those who would defend

Those hapless helpless slaves

Whether alive or in shallow nameless graves

 

So rose up a cry

That freedom must come nigh

So goes the words of one of those Negro songs

The words of hope that the slave did long

 

Get away, Jordan

Get away, Jordan

Get away, Jordan

 

There’s one more river to cross

And that’s the stream that flows,

Thru Bethlehem call the river Jordan.

Don’t you want to

God Almighty…

O’ my Lord…

 

Get away, Jordan

Get away, Jordan

Get away, Jordan

 

I want to cross over to see my Lord

One of these mornings bright and fair

I want to cross over to see my Lord

Going to take my wings and fly the air

I want to cross over to see my Lord

 

But even with emancipation

We were still aliens in this US nation

The rule Jim Crow

Made the freedom dream come slow

Segregation took its toll

Ugly lynching, church burnings occurred uncontrolled.

 

Stop it! I can hear it

And I do not like this story anyone little bit

About how my ancestors bleed and died

But yet, they stood with silent pride

 

Then there arose a Moses that stated

 

“I … have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

 

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"

 

That Moses who had that dream...

Of having his people redeemed

By becoming part of this great land

But that promise has fallen onto shifting sands

For if that Moses who had that mountaintop vision

Would come today He would still see underground divisions

Gone are the colored only signs over the way

Still visible signs are now in play

 

Welfare queens

Street so mean

Drug thugs and empty dreams

Broken homes

Man all gone

Empty calls to 911

…To restore our family?

…To restore our great destiny?

Is this what is being called being free?

 

Broken schools
Our children acting like fools
Ganging together to get the teacher fired
Urban school can’t keep those they have hired
Parent blames the teachers
So does everyone and even the preachers
graduating students who cannot read
Graduating bodies who cannot lead
Masses stuck in poverty
No hope from misery

 

Police brutality`

Is still an unfortunate reality

They don’t care about your degrees

You all look the same so hands up and freeze

A sudden move

And you are in a 6-foot grove

And No one cares

About your fears

That when a cop is passing you

That they may be gunning you

 

Therefore, I am tired hearing about the mountaintop

When will the pain in my soul stop

When another promotion is missed

Because I was dissed

Because I look like night

In the noonday light

 

I am tired about hearing about the mountaintop

When I am followed by a cop

Every time I shop

When they cross the street

to avoid my passing feet

 

I am tired about hearing about the mountaintop

For listening to this makes my heart drop

When those with regal mahogany skin

Wishes aloud wanting coverings like their lighter kin

Then they dis their own kinky hair

Burning their scalp and saying it gives them flair

 

Therefore, I am looking for a Joshua

That will take me to the promised land

I am looking for a Joshua

That will be a rock and not shifting sands

To help me get away

From the mindsets that hold me at bay

 

Therefore, I will be that Joshua on my own

And travel that long road home

For I went to the valley and I did not go to stay

My soul got happy so I stayed all day

But now I am tired of looking over its banks

I am tired of being passed over in this life’s ranks

 

So get away Jordan

I am going to the other side

 

Get away Jordan

I have been lifted by freedom’s pride

 

Get away Jordan

I will hold on to the prize of my calling

 

Get away Jordan

I will stand strong when all others around me are falling.

 

I stand here one that is true and endearing

Ready to part the waves that around me are swelling

So get away muddy river Jordan

I am bound for that promised land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!