distance:
to walk through war zones
to a refugee camp in another land
barefoot through deserts
with a child on your back
distance:
to bear seeds and raise children
who will never fully understand
a language you speak
the distance some travel to not sleep
working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week
driving taxis
and back home you had a PhD
the distance
between this family and their child
who just wants to MC
instead of getting that degree
knowing if he made it
he could take 20 more people out the war zone
the distance you know
when you go home
and don't recognize nothing but a dirt road
out of some rubble
the distance
between me and my grandmother
is really only like 4 blocks
but we see each other's eyes and both feel lost
and can't talk
you share scars
in a pain that feels unique to ours
but really it's all of us
in this third world war camp
southside represent
where one block
a different tongue can be spoke in every residence
i'm unsettled
and still can't go home now
and more children die everytime the sun goes down
we never make the news here
unless it's to instill fear
piercing pains
that shoot through veins
as often as rain
on top of a tropical people
estranged
it's the distance...
- a lost verse i wrote for Blue Scholars' track "The Distance" back in '07. it didn't make the Bayani album but i still feel it tho. much love to Geo, Sabzi, Khalil... Rahwa and Semone! still love that song.