I Weep (The Hood)

I see you brother,

I see you standing there with your

pants hanging low,

I watch you throw signs up,

I watch you run the block,

I watch you chase after money,

women, and fame,

I watch you stumble through the park

high off of life and ill-gotten gains,

I watch you flaunt your new clothing,

bought with money supplied by the blood of others,

I watch you stare at me curiously,

caution at something that you don't understand,

a brother in the hood,

from a hood,

that don't bang.

I watch you classify me as a "b***h-n***a"

because i avoid unnecessary violence,

because i avoid the drugs that flow like water

the populace,

because I don't listen to the same music

that you do,

(my respect for women and human prevents me)

because i shake my head when you come past

hooping and hollering,

because I'd rather be poor than slip back into

the life you live,

I watch you and

internally I weep.

I weep for you

and others like you,

I weep for every boy

forced to be a man,

I weep for every person who'd rather

have 14 cars than a little bit of owned land.

I weep for this generation and those coming up after,

I weep for those girls who have to use their body

as a ticket out of the hood,

I weep for every child corrupted by their gang-banging elders,

I weep for every brother, for every sister who

falls under the pipe,

be it crack or lead,

I weep for every bullet blasted

into another soul's head,

I weep for every child who ends up

on the street because their parents are locked up

or dead.

I weep for the ignorance that so permeates the air,

I weep for those who bust shots and nuts with nary a care,

I weep for those influenced by the music that

brags about all the money that comes from

moving white,

I weep for every small soul

lost to the ravenous hood,

I weep for every child whose dreams of becoming

an astronaut is replaced by dreams of becoming a rapper,

a baller,

be it foot or basket,

I weep for every single mother,

for every locked up father,

for every dead child,

for every burnt down house,

I weep for my hood,

and every hood everywhere else,

I weep for this generation that

grows up so confused,

after all,

they have nowhere to find help,

where do you go when your elders shun you?

Safety is guaranteed in numbers,

so they act the same as their peers,

they do what everyone else does and mock

anyone who dares to be different

with taunts and sneers,

for this,

for these reasons,

I weep.