While on the city bus ridin,
Oh about a week back or so,
I glanced up from my book,
Just in time to look,
At this "youngblood" coming thru the door,
Now I have to admit that I'm "ole school",
The phrase I live by is R-E-S-P-E-C-T,
So as soon as I saw,
The cold look in his craw,
I knew that from him it's suspect,
I fought hard to suppress my emotions,
What I see in our youth makes me mad,
That civilized man inside,
Wants to just step aside,
Let the primal one "deal" instead,
Now I'm sure that the vibe I transmitted,
Was received by him loud and clear,
As I looked in his eyes,
The mature me inside,
Said,” Don’t engage this dude now, no not here",
Well I have to admit that stayed with me,
As I got off the bus and went on,
Made me kinda sad,
Then I got really mad,
Thinking,” this is the fruit of my loins"?
I stepped in my home to relax some,
Picked up the remote for the tube,
It came on fairly quick,
I was somewhat transfixed,
By the story that therefore ensued,
There stood a woman named Gogo,
From a land that is far, far away,
She was telling her story,
That held touches of glory,
But mostly was wrought with dismay,
She spoke of her life as it stood now,
And the path it inevitably would take,
Of the loved one's she’s lost,
The increasing high cost,
How much HIV makes hearts ache,
Her sadness gave way quick to anger,
As she expressed with dismay,
No help she foresaw,
Forthcoming at all,
From the "powers that be" with the sway,
She did say one thing that stuck with me,
"The children are finished, they're lost",
You could see in her eyes,
Pain deep down inside,
Recalling her memories through loss,
That an entire race is at stake here,
As they cope everyday with their fate,
As they're hope starts to dim,
The proud courage within,
Is replaced with despair and heartache,
I sat there and watched this whole story,
And time for me seemed to stand still,
I thought,” what a shame",
Many of us complain,
Of things that seem trivial,
Here’s a woman with such strength,
Had trials  most couldn’t endure,
And yet here she stood,
As a warrior should,
Strong, proud, not at all demure,
My thoughts went back to that young man,
And of my deep seated disgust,
I let out a deep sigh,
And thought, "why didn't I",
Make a demonstrative thrust,
To place myself inside his shoes,
And understand more of his life,
See deeper inside,
Than I'd actually tried,
Understanding more of his plight,
If my life could amount to but one thing,
I'd want that one thing to be right,
To be fairly secure,
 My work would endure,
Long after I've left from this life,
Now that I've related the story,
Of this woman I place on my page,
She makes me think deeply,
Concrete not discretely,
Of ways I can best spend my days,
ALL of us will make that transition,
 Leaving this life for the next,
But before we ALL go,
We should all want to know,
Those efforts we gave were our best,
So, I guess you could say she reminds me,
This proud woman here that you see,
How to best spend my days,
To strive working in ways,
To fulfill  "HIS” plans for me.

©2006 moblemind