The Poet

Our city sparkles with many colors,
Black, brown, white, and yellow;
Each color flows together to create one rainbow:
Many colors, one vision, one mankind,
Fields of roses, lilies, and daffodils,
Each its own beauty, but together one bouquet

Many roots sprout together to form one tree
Maple, oak, and pine grow together to form one forest.
Many streams and rivers flow together to form the Mississippi;
So it takes many shades of color to form our great city.

You wear a necklace sparkling with many colors:
Believers and non-believers, Jews and Christians,
Catholics and Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists.

Oh! City of cities, we pay homage to you:
Home of writers, poets, and echoes of the great there,
Shadow of the great city that sparkles across the bay,
Blue collar kingdom, birthplace of the blues,
Cradle of the panthers and the angels,
Heart of Oaktown, not glitzy with gold,
But strong as iron.

Your spirit dances under the sun,
But sleeps under the moon.
Your mean street flows into sweet streets.
Churches and liquor stores pepper your streets.

We hear the sweet blues moaning and roaming,
In your streets, through your alleys:
Drums throbbing,
Pianos singing,
Guitars wailing.
Saxes shrieking.

We cook our soup with spices from many lands:
Coal-black, ivory, tangerine, and gold.
They come from Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.
Though divided in our language, we stand united in our city.
Together, we string a necklace of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and pearls;
All colors of the rainbow, many colors, one rainbow.