Pain & Homage

Pain & Homage

Dues must be paid to those once enslaved.
Without the roads they paved, we wouldn’t know the way.
Lost in the dark, trapped in a cave, they gave us an opportunity to be gay, in more than one way; the pursuit of happiness and freedom to believe.
If they hadn’t prospered we wouldn’t aim to succeed.
As time proceeds, we attempt to do what they did, so we donate proceeds,
to various foundations, some named after these,
forefathers I speak of and go to those found in need.
And those not found remain un-reached,
like the forest and the tree,
does that still happen with no witness to see?
Let’s not be naïve,
that mass went timber, before the king of the jungle and his young son simba.
We once sung signals to a secret passage way,
now most railroads run underground in a similar way.
They fought their lives away to break free from chains, now we assort them as a fashion.
They never would’ve imagined, these chains around there wrists and necks would soon be a style.
Maybe they never should’ve risked their necks, so that their great times ten grand-child,
could wear these same chains that once caused them pain,
and not only wear them but to do so they’d pay.
Irony trickles through society
opinions we exclaim were once considered impiety.
But we just believe them so we don’t know what that word means,
or many others it would seem.
If only we were wise enough to use the context clues.
Maybe your dream college would accept you.
Look around and see the world as it affects you.
Butterfly effect, each step determined by another step.
If they hadn’t walked before us, we never would’ve met.