By Mutryce A. Williams
They owe you, they owe you,
I wonder if it’s forget that they forget,
That they owe you,
Or rather, if it is out of sheer ignorance,
That they go on, that they parlance,
I wonder if perhaps, that is, I really mean perchance,
If they really think that this freedom thing is pure happenstance?
I wonder if they know, if they know, if they know,
Had the times been different,
Just exactly, what, their circumstance,
Would be…
But you see, they will say, that it is not so,
And, and, and, and they not to see about any of that,
The audacity,
They will actually say that that was then,
And now is now,
They will actually say that they owe nothing,
But I say differently, they owe you,
They owe you excellence,
Do they have any idea, how you have suffered,
Because of that beaten, and I mean literally beaten path,
That you have walked, because of that journey,
And because you fell prey to a destiny, a calamity,
Nothing, the sort that even the ‘seeingest’ soothsayer could foresee,
That, that, they now, they now, can walk,
They can walk tall, they can walk free,
And without water in my mouth,
I just want to say that they owe you,
They owe you, they owe you,
They owe you excellence,
Theirs should have never been a life of unproductivity,
Or a life of proclivity, to the 9 mm, 38 revolver, 42, or the oozie,
It was not intended to be a life of violence, against each other,
Theirs should have never have been a life of entitlement,
Oh no, no, no, no, NO!
Theirs should have never been a life of balling or flossing,
Of acquiring,
Acquiring not knowledge for edification,
But rather possessions,
A life now….all about self-aggrandizement,
While, all the while staying mentally chained,
How did we ever get to this?
They owe you, I will say it again,
They owe you,
They need to realize that they have fallen short,
They have become truculent and offensive,
They need to turn that clock back,
And kiss your two foot them, for all that that you have done,
They need to be thankful, and…
And realize that they owe you nothing, nothing short of excellence,
Theirs should have never been a life where civil liberties are taken for granted,
And yet they are, they are,
They are being squandered, as if these rights were pilfered,
And not fought for with your blood, sweat and tears,
They ask, Education what? Vote for who or what? Service to who or what?
What is all that nonsense you talking about?
This is the land of me, myself and I,
I owe no one, nothing, anything, nothing,
I owe no one nothing,
But you see they are wrong, they owe you,
They owe you, they owe you,
They owe you nothing but excellence,
They walk tall because you refused to accept your servitude,
They walk tall now because you fought, fought, fought, fought
They walk tall,
They walk free,
Not a care in the world,
Not a worry as it may be,
And if you didn’t suffer,
If you didn’t toil, if you didn’t fight,
Where would we, where would he, where would she be,
They owe you, I say, they owe you,
They owe you nothing but excellence,
Every breath that they take should be a conscious one,
Because it is a free breath,
It is not a laboured or under duress breath,
It is a free breath,
With each breath, they should say a ‘gratitudinous’ thank you,
And realize that they owe you,
They owe you, they owe you,
They owe you,
They owe you nothing but excellence,
Nothing, nothing, nothing, BUT excellence!
They owe you nothing…but excellence.