My Grandmother's Backbone (Louis Toliver Jr-Austin, TX)

Being a man is not enough anymore

We are usually the first to go

So many woman, I see, giving more

Left to deal with all the family’s woe

Bound to the weakness of stroke

She still encouraged us folk

I learned from her

How to keep this world together

To accept, rejected children

And nurture them to kings and queens

SHE put VALUE to US

She left me her backbone

I’ll express it to the world

Every man needs to understand

He should thank a woman for his strength

If I could have half the strength

Of my grandmother

I’ll excel in the world at great length

For my happiness, I look to no other

Such beauty could never be forgotten

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Ash Wednesday (Brian Falcon - New Orleans, LA)

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