No.131: Out the Nest

"I've come a long way
from a very hard place,"
I think it's wearing me out,
but I can't stop now. 
My feet been flirting with the ground
like a child on a pilgrimage back home,
but the nest is breaking down.
My mirrors are cracking like coke.
I'm addicted. I'ma joke. I'ma dusty crown. 
My image is calling me out.
Telling me to leave the zone. Now.
The nest is for children.

Every wise man was raised by a village.
My shoulders carry their dreams now,
I'm playing for keeps now,
you can cease the scrimmage.
Or keep it live--I know that’s where some of y’all make a living.
Me, I choose to make a life.

Or at least I will, 
once I learn to respect my time. 
A wise Jedi once said, "do or do not,
there is no try."
He was half right.
I'ma stay in the ring
until I drop Lucy,
or I'ma die with a smile,
knowing I never stayed on the ground
while there was still fight left in me,
knowing I never plead mercy,
I never went empty,
the Spirit in my ink never once left me,
knowing my words were always heavy
with the force of Lightweight semis
and a soul so messy with a joy so tempting
it made you wanna taste this Elohim he spoke of,
the King who could speak galaxies into being as easily as you breathe. 

This is the way I choose to go back to dust--
with the mightiest touch,
heaping coals from above on busy bees
with too much to say to me,
mercin' the world with truth, and love,
and some heaven-infused, hip-hop poetry,
with a dove on my shoulder
and a pen in my holster,
and a God under my skin,
atom bombs between my lips,
and Sonlight between my fist.

Don't sleep on a nig.
I pray one day you tell ‘em
the kid went missing
from his nest of sirens,
you tell 'em
the King inside him has risen,
so the dark knight rises,
tell 'em the night is when
the Most High supplies His children with
the strength to wield His weapons.
He pours out wisdom to those who ask,
you just gotta listen.

I've kissed the nest goodbye,
upgraded the kitchen I cook in,
I’ve broken my chains,
taken back my vision,
and I'ma train like the prince of Saiyans
‘till I'm Luke Cage to every one of my self-made prisons,
so you can get these milk and honey bars in pieces,
or live salty like the OT heathens--
either way, this pepper-skinned purpose will remain
undefeated

‘cause a wise man once said, 
“it is finished.”

--No.131: Out the Nest

Cover Photo by Chanan Greenblatt on Unsplash