At night she cried

And woke up with a smile

She put on a shirt and tie

Screaming “I wish I had a guy

To take care of my baby and I”

She taught me to put a rubber on my dick

And taught me to fight ‘cause momma ain’t raise no bitch

She taught me a woman’s likes and dislikes

How to not only woo a woman, but how to treat her right

And I prayed for momma at night

Because my daddy took flight

He’s nowhere in sight

I hated to see her cry

And put on a shirt and tie

Having to play both sides

And it makes me realize

Why do we disrespect our women?

We dog, abuse, and rape them again and again

Calling them bitches, hoes, and tricks

And got the nerve to ask for forgiveness

When you heard you had a baby, you ran

Putting it in the hands

Of a woman

To raise a man

As a boy on TV

He sees

A wife and husband

With all the togetherness and love and

And the image of the TV father

Bothers

The young black boy badly

Because momma ain’t have no husband, she had a baby daddy

When times got hard daddy left

But momma?? When times got hard she wrote an S and her chest

And handled the rest

Of the slack

She knew daddy wasn’t coming back

Momma put on the hard hat

She’ll whip me and hug me right after that

She would work the WIC and the stamps

And toward the end of the month she could make meals out of scraps

Then sit me on her lap

As I take a nap

When I wake up my face is wet

I realize that it is not sweat

They’re tears from her eyes

As I look at her face I’ll never forget

As each tear fell what each tear meant

Pain, hurt, depression

And it taught me a lesson

On how Momma can cry so much but make her love so fluorescent

I can claim myself as tough, like ain’t nobody stronger than me

But truth is that Momma was stronger than I am and ever will be

She put clothes on my back and shoes on my feet

Water to wash myself, clothes, and to drink

She put a roof over my head

Tucked me into bed

And put food in my mouth

While her pockets were in a drought

I never understood how she does it

How she lived as a man and a woman

I talk to her every night

As I look in the heavenly sky

Wishing she never died

From drowning from her tears in her shirt and tie.

 

By: De’Angelo Jackson