#spokenwordpoetoftumblr

I wake up and pray for you.

Not because they pressured me to,

but because loving you means covering you,

means standing in the gap between you and a world

that don’t always know how to love you back.

Because the world is hard on a Black man—

demands your strength but fears your power,

takes from you but seldom gives,

sees your brilliance yet still tries to dim it.

So I pray.

I pray that your shoulders never grow too weary,

that the weight of expectation doesn’t break you,

that you always know you were made to rise,

no matter how many times they try to pull you down.

I pray that peace finds you in the quiet moments,

that your dreams stand taller than your doubts,

that your heart never forgets its softness,

even when the world tells you to harden.

I pray that when they call you threat,

you remember you are a king.

That when they call you danger,

you remember you are divine.

That when they try to make you feel small,

you remember you are everything.

And when the weight of the world feels too heavy,

I pray that God lifts you before you ever fall.

That His hands keep you steady,

that His love goes before you,

and that no weapon formed against you will ever prosper.

Because I don’t just love you—

I cover you.

And as long as my heart beats for you,