About some hundred years ago, once upon a time
a ship sailed isolated upon the ocean line.
What it carried aboard should have been defied, 
but in those days there were no laws to abide.

	Now this ship was filled with cargo, not silver, wood or gold,
but the cargo of human life carried to be sold.
Sold into slavery to build a country out of mud.
No tools did they have to use but strength, prayers, and blood.

	On this ship they were packed together like raw meat.
Once a week they had clean water and corn meal mush to eat.
Crammed below the deck with not a breath of fresh air; 
lying in their own waste riddled with despair.

	Many died on this boat while others just got thinner.
Sharks soon learned to follow closely - anticipating dinner.
Of their strength, dignity, and pride, they did not lose a piece;
though they held on to these things the anguish did not cease.

	So upon the sea this boat did sail swaying side to side,
and with each sway the hope they had had died.
Raw bones consistently scraped against the hard wooden floors,
the blood they shed marked shattered dreams and joy that were no more.

	For some comfort and ease of pain to Allah they did pray.
Prayers ceased abruptly when they entered America about the ninetieth  day.
As they were unloaded from the boat many bones crackled,
then together, side by side, hands and feet were shackled.

	The women cried in agony as the men just clenched their fist.
Causing problems in any way would put their lives at risk.
Standing on a platform, hate built in their heart.
Their bruised bodies, like meat was studied by the parts.

	Their dark bodies were quite a contrast to the pale deviled men.
Their minds too blind to differentiate what will be and what has been.
The African warriors stood erect blazing, tall and bold,
unknown to what was happening, one by one each person was sold.

	This crime done was wrong and of course many hearts ached,
as the men were murdered, the children used, and the women brutally raped.
Scared of the power these people possessed - (the pride and dignity too) -
the African language and traditions their masters forbade them to do.

	Riches were made from their labor, yet no recognition was given,
so spirituals were sung, easing their pain, God became their cause for living.
Their past became a murky blur that to them was dark and mobbed,
so they pray for the day when they would regain what had been shamefully robbed.

                                        	THE BEGINNING