For You, Black Man

To the only ones who can make us laugh and cry in the same breath.
Who can lift us to where we need to be better than any high.
Chocolate. Caramel. Red Bone.
YOU, Black man.

To the man who feels that sensitivity is weakness,
and that he is the Wall of Jericho
unable to be infiltrated.

It's OK to cry, Black man.
To open your eyes, bearing your soul, and your pain.

It's OK to succeed, Black man.
Pushing to achieve everything God has planned for you.
Climbing to the top of a ladder that was not intended for you,
yet you reach the top and laugh at anyone who ever doubted you.

It's OK to believe, Black man.
To know that you are capable of claiming your destiny.
It's OK to love, Black man.
To trust in someone who was custom-made for you.

This is for the Black man who can melt the ice around a Black woman's heart and use the heat to put warmth back into her smile, if only for a moment.

I love you, Black man.
Brother, father, friend, and lover.
From the top of your anointed heads,
to the soles of your toiling feet.
From the tips of your fingers
to the depths of your soul.
From the thorns on your cynicism
to the sincerity of your truth.
I love you, Black man.
I love you.