1. Beginnings
Her babe was her joy, such a beautiful boy
as he s**ed at her breast till the end
The Ma**a sought cash, bestowed mammy a lash,
sold her babe to a gentrified friend
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
With mammy not there, Sammy dared not to dare
but to bide near the edge of the night
But nevertheless one must always outguess
or absorb burning stings of the bite
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
Though learning the rules in the shadows of fools
as he grew to a leery lean lad
He often defied but he never once cried
although whipped at the post whene'er bad
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
2. Youth
The cotton gin broke and nobody spoke,
but the Ma**a said "BENNY'S TO BLAME"
But Sammy said ‘No... Ma**a, jus caint be so,
no 'tain't Benny, 'tain't Benny's sore name'
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
"LOOK, SEE IN HIS EYES HOW THAT N*G*** BOY LIES" -
- replied Sam ‘no I's tellin da truth'
But daring to speak earned him scars for his cheek
and so blemished the bloom of his youth
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
"THE COTTON GIN'S BROKE, AND THAT JUST AIN'T NO JOKE"
and he called upon Benny to pay
"WELL BENNY'S QUITE DIM, SO I'LL LEARN HIM TO SWIM"
which Sam feared the mean Ma**a would say
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
Dark faces soon blanched; Benny bended a branch
near the base of a broken oak tree
His body hung bare as it swam on the air
and the buzzards and crows shrieked with glee
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
3. Flight
Sam's feet were unclad, as befitting a lad
as alone as a stone in his path
So oft on the run neath the sly sliding sun
being followed and feeling god's wrath
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
Surrounded and caught brought his efforts to naught,
child in chains at the end of his trek
Winds wept as he went, with his spirit unbent,
a cold collar of steel 'round his neck
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
4. Life
Sam grew to a man, branded ‘boy' by the klan,
as they spat on the trail that he tread
If he raises his gaze or he wanders or strays
the pack promise to sever his head
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
Once Sam found a wife who they ripped from his life,
yes along with the babe at her breast
(Was it simply their greed or by heaven decreed? ...)
well, with hindsight you might guess the rest
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
5. Endings
From phantoms of fright neath the frail foggy night
Sammy soared as he fled to escape
He no longer crawled, heeding freedom that called
through the darkness, a black hole agape
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
Unleashed! The crazed dogs that hound men through the bogs,
(baying beasts neath the bloody red moon)
White fangs intermeshed as they mangled Sam's flesh,
freedom flayed through the pale afternoon
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
Sam's body was torn leaving little to mourn
but there's really no need to despair
And there's no need to cry for his spirit won't die,
being borne by bound men everywhere
It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash,
yet another cruel link in their chain
EPITAPH
SAM
Revolted and clashed 'gainst the cruel leather lash
and thus chipped a deep chink in their chain
EPILOGUE
Those parts of the past that we gaze at aghast
reveal harrowing questions quite plain -
Why people so free, just like you, just like me,
were so happy inflicting such pain?
Why we bask in the throes of humanity's woes
while we wait while the tyrannies reign?
And I'm wondering too ('cause I don't have a clue)
... might we each be a link in their chain?