You who barters for my thoughts

Must expect to buy one pound of tears,

Two bushels of heartaches, three tons of rejections,

And nearly four centuries of unquenched

Pain and humiliation, which accompany

My thoughts

Like heat comes with fire and cold comes with snow.

You who wishes to barter for my thoughts

Must also exchange your Freedom,

Justice and Equality with my broken, beaten, and

Shackled body.

You also will have to exchange your mansions or your

Four or five bedroom homes with my run-down,

Lean-to, and hut-like abodes, which accompany

My thoughts

Like in goes with out and up goes with down.

 

You who barters for my thoughts

Must also know that my thoughts as well as my dreams

Are all I have to offer in return for love, peace, happiness and

The basic necessities: All of which have been tabled by

Egotistical freebooters like

You who barters for my thoughts.

 

                                                                         1981 (revised 2013)

 

They have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, by worshipping and serving created things, rather than the Creator — praised be he for ever. Amen. ~ Romans 1:25, CJB

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~ Romans 12:2, NIV

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,/And mortal life shall cease,/I shall possess within the veil,/A life of joy and peace. ~ Verse 5 from “Amazing Grace” by John Newton