LYRIC FOR SALE

By Brian Marcum

Busy side walk full of people, Savannah GA
one older man steps aside every time others come his way
I can’t help but to wonder, wonder why
he stands to the side with his head down until they pass him by
so when I get near and he steps off to the side
I stop to introduce myself and ask if he would tell me why

He says
I’m nearly a hundred, I’ve seen so many things
guess I just got used to the days, haven’t changed my ways
from when people like me weren’t treated like human beings

With a heavy heart, nearly ready to fall apart
his words weighing on my mind, I asked if he had some time
so we found a bench in a shady spot
sat for a while an had a talk about
things he’d seen in his life
my stomach turned, so much I learned
after listening to that man and I came to understand

Why he said
I’m nearly a hundred, I’ve seen so many things
guess I just got used to the days, haven’t changed my ways
from when people like me weren’t treated like human beings

In his life he’d survived
Jim Crow laws, Segregation, discrimination
being treated as less, suppressed with fear and intimidation
he’d seen so many unjustly accused, abused
even a few lives taken without a trial
now today some want to live in denial
are trying to erase the disgrace of those times
so many crimes committed against his race

it’s no wonder why he could say
I’m nearly a hundred, I’ve seen so many things
guess I just got used to the days, haven’t changed my ways
from when people like me weren’t treated like human beings

Truth is easy to find if you spend a little time
looking into the eyes that have seen
hearing his words we should all be disturbed
by the way things used to be
can’t walk away, can’t hide
can’t listen to those who now lie
about those things that made a wonderful man like him
step aside and be treated as less than
the human being that he is
and in the way he should have always been seen