White As Snow
Clean
Pristine
Like Nelly ‘03
Not creased or beat like the Zillennials’ be
Encased online
One-click away shopping spree
A check box for checkmarks
Long await in the shopping cart
I needed to cop
Be a part, be the part
A throwback like storytime
New to me but a re-release
An 07’ rewind and far off dream
I tried to work for mines
I performed the grind
I hopped favor would reside
My efforts to reward this feat
I hoped it’d be enough
To cover up my scuffs
Labor to buff and clean me up
And qualify the next life to be above
Till realized, I closed my eyes
Went three rounds in shell toes but hell still called
Heart scuffed from ballin’ on concrete
The glue beat and toe box smacking loud
A resolution needed now
I looked to another to hook me up
“A-hundred for 2 pair”
I was scared
The back of his trunk was up
Shoeman’s boxes was from Iran- not Viet’nam
I should have known something was up
Quality on cardboard
Stitches like a crossword puzzle
This was Sunday’s paper on Tuesday
The answer was 4 across
F-A-K-E
And I was down for it
This wasn’t a good sell
I needed to cover myself
My feet were bare
My performance below the bar
This man offered a quicker way at attempts to hide my shame
Replacement glory to stunt on life’s game
Sho’nuff I slid him a bill
Put them thangs on my feet hoping it would heal
It only revealed my willingness to blend, to pretend
A pretense that would only backfire in the end
You can’t cover up a reverse check
It bounces
Especially when the roast of the audience is loudest
I found toast where I wanted to be the proudest
Them jokers krumped on my sole
Didn’t hold back on the clowning
Burnt
I thought to retaliate with flames
But deep inside I knew it was a lost cause
They were right
I could see the lies, the off white design
Shortcuts riddled with self-deceit
Lost in the acceptance
A waste it would be on resentments
Turns out if you chase the world tenets
You will end up with its penance
I needed a replacement
Less temporary and more brilliant
Something or someone who could undo what I had done
Someone more blinding
Who uncovers darkened eyes with deep love
Dips black souls in red blood
Cleans those with bare feet
Makes pristine foes that don’t measure up
I found this
It arrived from a King who went bleeding
Jacked for his robe
Betrayed and abused
To make us white as snow
A three-day exchange with eternity
A delivery guaranteed
No longer in need of my fauxs
I let them go
Tossed them in the trash
Free from a self-sufficient being
Released from objects defining my meaning
Settled down in hope
Turns out
No shoes are needed to stand on holy ground