I Can’t Breathe

We let politics take the lead,

As the voices of science we failed to heed.

I can’t breathe

Good solid leadership failed to step up and relax our minds,

As the sands ran from the hour glass & were precariously out of time.

I can’t breathe.

The wisdom of solid leadership Is missing as we continue to bleed,

As the continued endangerment of life we don’t need,

I can’t breathe.

We’ve failed to plan for the explosion of covid19,

As life as we know it has stolen so many dreams,

I can’t breathe.

As we literally watched the covid19 germinate,

We stoically watched as it began to terminate,

I can’t breathe.

This disease we sat and watched it come overnight,

Racism has been with us through as we fought for our right,

I can’t breathe.

Before it’s too late and you let your life unravel,

Decide the best path for you and yours to travel.

I can’t breathe.

We have to continue to fight the foot on our neck,

From the seen and the unseen without fear or regret,

I can’t breathe.

But each one,

Has to reach one,

To care enough to teach one,

To be there to help one – with what they need.

So each one …. can finally breathe.

by Mickey Clayton (www.mickeyclaytonfl.com) retired Head Basketball Coach at Florida A&M University, owner and CEO of MAC 4 Enterprises, LLC

Council of Dads

 

 

 

 

 

The First requirement of the Council of Dads,

Is to be the best friend your son ever had.

Next, you were the one who taught him to be a man,

the one who gently led your son by the strength of your hand.

 

When all others failed him you were never too far apart,

for you led him with love through a strong fatherly heart.

There is nothing, nothing live a mother’s love,

but a son needs the sizing of the dad’s glove.

It is from there he learns the winds of the world,

As before his childhood eyes, the problems of life unfurl.

 

It is where our fathers sit at the Council of Dads table,

Because the way they have lived through us, has made them enabled.

It is at the Council of Dads table where our dads all sit together strong,

bonded as one as they protect us from steps we take wrong.

It is an honor they take very seriously,

as they knew of each other before I knew of you or you knew of me.

 

They sit there reclined in their comfortable chair,

as they reunite with their dads who are already there.

Never ever forget when a problem does arise,

They are quickly summoned together for that protective fatherly ride.

They will support us in numbers with a strength unseen by man,

as they forever hold us up, with those fatherly hands.

 

Now they will have to have special sessions with the man named James,

Because he will have to learn on the Council there are things he can’t change.

He’s a leader and in his mind things have to go a certain way,

But in his world now, he won’t have the final say.

He has left a quiet confidence deep within you,

Know in your heart you, will be able to do all that you need to.

For he has left you marked with far more than his name,

as your creed to help others is your life’s flame.

The Dads smiled at James as he adjusted his Council of Dads chair,

As they told him, that was his last journey as his spirit would now ……. be everywhere.

 

<the inspiration for this comes from the great photo of the Tookes Family of four generations of men, it has always moved me. I hope I my did my brother justice>

The writer, Mickey Clayton (@MickeyClaytonFL) has served for over 40 years at Florida A&M University. He currently owns and operates an on-line sports talk show at www.INSiiGHTS.com (@INSiiGHTS).

 

 

 

 

 

Never Losing My Way

I have never lost my way,

even in my darkest hours I could hear you say.

“my son, always let God show you the way.”

Even in the face of storms that seemed unGodly strong,

I refused to let those winds push me down the path that was wrong.

I have tried to be the man you taught me to be,

To tell the truth and be of strength with integrity.

 

Not to be worried when the lies began to mount,

That I would lose so many so-called friends I’d lose count.

You always told me that walking a path alone,

Did not mean that I was on my own.

Even when people I had my trust in one time,

began to speak in tongue – in words that my ears could not find.

 

It was you that I placed my confidence in,

Even when lies were stronger than the hurricane winds.

I was determined to stand straight in the face of it all,

Because I know I could stand again, even if over false statements – I’d fall.

It is never the words of my enemy,

that cut the deepest in me.

But the silence of your so – called friends,

that allow the words of your enemy to sink in.

 

I’m blessed to have learned long ago,

some ideations cemented in my mind for me to know.

To stay on the path of truth and the honesty I see,

as I realize these words not to be my own, but yours through me

You have always been in my heart,

Even though in this man-made world  so many are worlds apart.

 

You have been the wind beneath my wings,

that allowed me to survive and keep me from crashing.

But no mistake in the words I’m trying to say,

I miss you dad, in every possible way ………

 

The writer, Mickey Clayton (@MickeyClaytonFL) has served for over 40 years at Florida A&M University. He currently owns and operates an on-line sports talk show at www.INSiiGHTS.com (@INSiiGHTS).