blood on the leaves, its still dripping and warm
my skin is your sleeves, now my complexion is worn
new strategies born to enforce the pain
wrists still sore from the shackles and chains
bringing new slaves on the ships and the trains
dehumanizing people with nothin to gain
stripping all the brothas of their culture and names 
crumbling rights with the structure of states
i'm telling you how it happened if you only believe. 
blood on the leaves.

blood on the leaves, actions as cold as december
ornaments on the trees
with names we wont remember
blood on the leaves
not ripe with sugar but ripe with rotten truths
not even eve in the garden of eden would eat this fruit
seeing is believing, Black men beaten, hanged and eaten
and thats the reason, that i choose to stand for the truth
no one to look up to because they weren't there, don't blame the youth
the tree struggles to grow when its disconnected from roots
but you're still adamant on cutting them down unless the tree serves you
where is the threat if its not the darker of hue

blood on the leaves, the rope is a slip not
for now you can breathe 
don't ask us to chill when shit gets hot
we don't have you captured 
but know your actions have been caught
you couldn't catch a slave, so in turn you invent cops
no more whips to slay, the last sound we’ll hear is gunshots
and police activity is sparse but Black neighborhoods are hotspots

white folk using slaves in the field to make money
then head off 2 college for different fields they can study
in the fields where it gets muddy, 
gets bloody, 
real ugly ,
and they go hungry,
in the fields where there’s no money,
for me to be happy with it,
you'd have to keep this info from me

people recite the pledge and don't even know what it means
but they’ll defend it with their life whenever you disagree
i'm not here to argue just hear me through
finishes with “liberty and justice” tell me for who
liberty and justice for you 
because you're afforded liberties i couldn't get as a black man & that goes for our women too
and don't even get me started on the national anthem

08/06/2021