Harder

Harder

By. Devin Owens

With no helping hand in sight, is it right

To want to get up after your legs bent backward

When its simpler to lie there and do nothing

Darkness comes so easily, from measly

Little problems, that treats me like food

But there’s nothing eating me

Ah! A scream would be nice but what would it do

To deaf ears and what would tears do for a blind person?

Would it give them less fear? …beats me

Everyday ask yourself what are you doing

Because you can lay there feeling sorry for your self

But the world keeps on moving

So you might want to catch the train before it leaves

What is it that keeps us down, unmotivated?

Uncertainty, leaving each choice hesitated

Well damn, if it’s easier to stay down,

Then why don’t we all do it, until it’s as fluid as water

Uh uh, I rather be a white water rapid

Despite its dangerous actions, you gain a lot more

It’s harder to get up, let me tell you

Almost like you left yourself glued

And you have to apply the effort to get up

If you want to stay down, go ahead, be my guest

I won’t harass you

Guess it must be a nice view to see life pass you

This is dedicated to the depressed who stress

What life hands them, this an anthem

To get back what you loss for a price like a ransom

So get up, make noise, and get loud

Or lay on your back, with the only thing moving, the clouds

A Family

A Family
By. Devin Owens

Is a family someone who has your back?

No, scratch that is a family something?

Yes, something that fills in the cracks

In fact, is a family really a mom and dad?

Is a family just a word that you heard?

When you were growing up that your mom,

Dad, aunt, and uncle confirmed?

Is family something we learn? To make

Our chest warm, slowly turning to heart burn

Hold on, maybe a family is a safety net

That we can always fall into

Is it that simple? See some might argue that point

And say it’s a mother’s warmth and a father’s strength

Or a fathers warmth and a mothers strength

Either way, there are no missing pieces to this puzzle

Does family keep you out of trouble?

Or is it better when you’re in trouble with them

Oh, I know, family is a secret people won’t understand

And there is no woman or man who ever will

Is family water that stays still because it’s a constant?

But if that were the case then so would day and night

They’re brother and sister, no…that isn’t right

Wait, they’re husband and wife

Everything synchronized, everyone does their part

A whole bunch of strings like they were attached to a harp

Playing a beautiful melody, calming every heart

A family is love, no matter who’s there or where you go

A family is arguing, leading to making up

A family jumps into danger when one member is stuck

A family says you’re right, even when you’re wrong

Whenever you’re weak, they make you feel strong

They’re everything I just said they were

They’re everything that you won’t even admit

Probably out of the fear that they’ll get up and quit

But family is more than mom and dad, brother and sister

They’re aunts and uncles, cousins and friends

Cats and dogs, cradled in the hands of God

Whether you’re angry, sad, happy or mad

In the end, family is all that we have

It's Hard Being Black

It’s Hard Being Black

By. Devin Owens

Oppression, Racism, the KKK

Nowadays that’s all my race has to say

Forgive don’t forget, because once it slips our minds

Then our climb would’ve been for nothing

But even today we’re still suffering

And no one ever stopped to think: It’s hard to be black

Matter of fact, did you know we’re three races in one

Light, medium, and dark, like you trying to adjust

The picture on a TV. Once my own race sees me

I’m not black; I’m yellow…since when was I a banana

But I try to stay mellow to the blissful ignorance.

In the work place I’ll get the last laugh

Though my skin color is the only thing they don’t look past

They don’t care if I can read or that I’m good at math

But that I’m light skinned and the closest they’ll get to a

Diverse white man, if you’re medium your chances

Are as slim as a push pin, and if you’re dark,

You can’t even get your foot in

We’re still looked down upon like everyone’s a giant

And we’re placed under the microscope in hopes

That we pass the test that’s omitted to the rest

Cool, cool, cool, guess MLK’s speech doest mean much

Because we’re still complaining on how much life sucks

And we’re stuck hoping someone will give a fuck

And extend their hands, looking past the years of

Stereotypes that are so ground in that bleach can’t remove it

Only hope that some day we’ll stop being stupid

And find outlets other than music, it’s not useless

I know it’s hard but we can still prove it

And at least on this we can agree

There is no bigger threat than a black person with a degree

Making real money, crossing out the minimum fee’s

Damn, sounds pretty good doesn’t it?

All that’s left is for us to start seeing it

Success, its hard being black, but I enjoy being it