You are the Love of my Life And the Life in my love. Every love poem I write to You Has been plagiarized from Your Heart. Though words cannot contain You or express You, You have endless names So that anyone who will Can know the satisfaction of calling on You. But Named or not, We cannot beckon You to come where You’ve never left. You are always here. The places we go where we cannot find You do not exist. As the Psalmist wrote, “When I awake, I am still with You.” Am I still with You? I must be. Or I would not be writing words that only Love can speak. Am I awake? I must be. Or I am dreaming the only thing worth dreaming— That You are the Love of my Life And the Life in my love.
I’m sorry I apologized When I was just being me I was just a slave Who falsely thought I was free
But now that I’m seeing more clearly This is what I meant to say Kiss my grits And get the H-E double hockey stick out my way
I think you get my point Without me going to extremes I could say it a little harder But it wouldn’t change an ounce of what it means
Besides if my dead grandmother were here And heard me talk to you like that She’d slap the taste right out my mouth And give all my apologies back
See, the worst things in life are often inherited Taught to fear in the name of survival Illusions of superiority Cloaked in the excuse that we’re all tribal
We say those before us committed the crimes But we choose to pay the price So when we accept the earnings of an unjust cause The effect is our souls being sacrificed
I am grateful that after more than a 4 year journey, Take This Life has finally made its way out into the world. It has been a blessing to me. I hope it blesses everyone it comes in contact with because you are made to shine. #makeitlight
To see this song on other online platforms click here.
I’m using Take This Life to create a #makeitlight challenge to highlight good being done in the world. If you happen to decide to share it online, can you use the #makeitlight tag?
(When you shine your Light it isn’t just for you. It’s for everybody else that’s been watching what you do.)
Take this life Make it right Take this life Make it Light To see…
You ever had those thoughts that wouldn’t go away? They’re runnin’ though your mind like every single day. Wake up in the mornin’ Get on your knees and pray Don’t believe it works But you do it anyway That’s what it’s like when you feelin’ hopeless Lookin’ at your life and you’ve got no focus You say, “It gets better.” Swear to God you know this But you caught up in the mix Don’t where your flow is This is the way of the American dream We think we see clearly But it isn’t what it seems Addicted to consumption So we livin’ like we fiends Only find meaning When we get a bunch of things Sooo…
Take this life Make it right Take this life Make it Light To see…
You know the Way That’s what they say That’s why I pray To shine like the Day Sooo…
Take this life Make it right Take this life Make it Light To see…
Here’s a little something I’m getting off my chest It’s been a long time Since last I confessed I denied you Thinking I’d get the rest But life without you Is a life that’s a mess
The best of me Is messin’ with the rest of me It’s testin’ me At least until I get to see I’m blessed to be Livin’ with you next to me ‘Cause life within you Is for X to see You see
They say you know the Way I’m inclined to believe it Though never in my life Have I seen one to achieve it You told us how to do it I’ll be shocked If we gon’ heed it Then we looking all surprised By the fact that we defeated Soo…
Take this life Make it right Take this life Make it Light To see
You know the Way That’s what they say That’s why I pray To shine like the Day Sooo…
Take this life Make it right Take this life Make it Light To see…
When you shine your light It isn’t just for you It’s for everybody else That’s been watchin’ what you do You can talk that talk But the walk shows what is true Are you a hypocrite Or the proud and the few? That’s the kind of question I ask myself daily Trying to get back to my roots As if my name was Alex Haley You don’t like my style But never will you play me ‘Cause I’m gon’ shine my light Till the day that they take me
You say I know the way ‘Cause if you do, I’m supposed to I’m glad you chose me Even when I hadn’t chose you The world is out of order And everybody knows it How’s a nation under you When all you are, it opposes If they gon’ be that Pharaoh Then I’m gon’ be that Moses They don’t want to see us shine ‘Cause when we do it exposes So I’m gon’ keep speaking Til everybody knows this It’s when we turn to you That we see where the flow is
You know the Way That’s what they say That’s why I pray To shine like the Day Sooo…
Take this life Make it right Take this life Make it Light To see…
Matthew 5:15
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Below is the original performance of the song that I did as a pastor.
Below is my final sermon as a pastor where in my farewell, I remind the community that, as the song Take This Life says, “YOU KNOW THE WAY”. The message ends with Asha singing, Change Gonna Come by Sam Cooke.
It's All In Me - Poetry Blog 