Nina Simone (speaking to me and you)

A troubled mother
One who suffered for her art
One who finds collective forgiveness
for calling out collective justice
Langston Hughes combing his passages in Harlem
New to the rush of broken piano keys
like a leader any tell-tale soldier would follow
eager to cry out in the winds
And it was in the wind we could find her
to initiate the unspoken so loud
to hail the wind-swept currents
like giraffes clamoring to dominate
to dominate the last experiment of sound
and majestic perishing whispers
so loud the dancing had to fade
under sweet orchestration
and fettered poems

Beating so rapid on keys of power
sin could not escape her
joining out for love
She cried for us all
Orchestration that could bend the leaves
as they tried to pretend they hung from the trees
Eric Burdon tried to rob her,
but she called him out
and returned the favor
with so much better show
Bert Jansch took her melody
and not even Paul Simon
would leave him unscathed
Nina, you know that will I feel anew
It is always new with your
working, not done today
but accomplished in your graceful presence