Slipping Away

It's too late for apologies
I'm slipping away
I tried to stay strong
But I'm starting to fade
I look back and daydream about the love we once made
Then I realize that maybe that's the reason I stayed
So long in a trance, not coming or going
Stuck, just still, not moving or growing
Wanting, but not knowing
If the love is for real
Constantly verbalizing, the feelings I feel

And I think, All I'm saying and doing is in vain
It doesn't make us breed love
It only breeds pain
A pain so deep like blood it stains
And can never get clean
No matter how hard it rains
I'm trying to remain, remembering the days
But slowly and surely, I'm fading away

Not in love with the person I was with before
But a mere few memories
Nothing less, Nothing more
But I also remember all the heartache he caused
WHat used to be mine
What used to be yours
What used to be ours, Left before it could stay
And slowly but surely, I'm fading away

I'm running, I'm walking
Nothing left to say
I'm gone, I'm falling
I'm slipping away......

Harlem

I can't help but to reflect on the Harlem i once knew
The Life, The People, The streets that I grew
The History, The Essence, of a people so strong
Breeding dreams and ambition
Where did we go wrong?
From Zora, Malcolm, Duke Ellington and Horne,
Generations of progress and soldiers were born
A place of unity, education and love
Villages raising our children, eyes focused above
The beauty of Black, the beauty of self
Identities captured, abundance and wealth
The Harlem Renaissance, music, dancing and poetry
The Civil Rights Movement, the militant energy
A people so strong, too beautiful to fade
Will take all your lemons and make lemonade
A people who overcome, again and again
Without even trying, triumphantly win
Black People, Righteous People
considered second class
Ironically without us, this system wouldn't last
Our schools, our homes
our communities displaced
Not because of the economy, but because of our race
Our brothers and sisters, put out on the street
Our mothers, our fathers, our children can't eat
there's no where to sleep
no one listening to speak
Politicians in suits, formally wearing white sheets
We're the ones that they cheat
and now Harlem is gone
They move in, move us out
Raise the rent and So Long!
The land we made rich
We made Harlem what it is
A beautiful place that raised us and our kids
A haven, a luxury to walk down its streets
History and limitless stories absorbed by the concrete

In every brick, on every corner
My HArlem, My Home
A place where I belonged
A place all my own
I'll miss you sweet Harlem
Thank you for all of your lessons
For collecting my tears and pouring out all your blessings
They'll never understand you and appreciate your worth
No matter where I go
You'll always come first......

-Rebecca Hall

In My Shoes

For just one day
Could you take a walk in my shoes
Could you feel all my joys
Could you sing all my blues

For one day if i let you
Would you cry all my tears
Would help heal my heart
Would you conquor my fears

It's always so easy, looking in from the outside
But you could never understand me,
My tears you can't cry
You can't turn my grey skies blue
You can't pick me up off the ground
You can't say it's nothing when it is something
You can't make my world go around

For one day
Just for one day
Could you put my burdens on your back
Would you bare all that I bare
and keep your cool, could you do that

For one day, if I let you
Could you say, I know how you feel
And mean it, truely mean it
Without faking, genuinely real

From now on when I cry, would you cry
When I fall, giveme time to get up
Encourage instead of discourage
Be there for me, no if and's or but's

For one day
Just for one day, if you walked in my shoes
maybe then you'd truly understand
Why i do what I do
Why I say what I say
Whay I am the way i am

For one day if you could see me
With all I have exposed
Would you still find ways to judge me
Or would you keep your mouth closed

I can only be me and you will never understand
if you don't want to understand
So please overstand
That even in my shoes, you could never be me
I could never be you but there can always be we
We can happily co exist, unstanding each others story
Choosing to love and listen, rather than to judge and ignore me

For one day,
Just one day., maybe you would begin to see
All the beautiful and unique things, that combine to make up....me.