Tribute to the needs of our Times.

You could ask for the truth to be told, Herb and the truth will recognize you. Our young are a different sort by the way they have been bred, and wed to a way of seeing the world around them without the lens of fighters. The fighters amongst our young people struggle with illusions they don't know are working against them. One illusion they resort to is their insistence on seeking their own counsel. How to get them to seek and listen to their elders and ancestors will not only save them time, but will give them real strength and real power!

The song you wrote, Herb is simple and the hardest truths are told simply. The difficulty our children have is believing it is hard to find the truth because so many have been told the truth is hidden by powerful people...

I heard all that in the song you wrote, and felt it in the needs of the times we are living. Thank you for the simplicity of truth. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories Feb. 9, 2017



Resistance Isn’t Futile

Resistance is futile.
At least that’s what they say.
But we’ve never been the kind to let
An adage get in the way.

We are told that acceptance,
Can be the way to peace.
But some things can’t be accepted.
Let our resistance never cease.

Oh, resistance isn’t futile.
It’s the only way.
To battle injustice.
When injustice comes our way.

Oh, resistance isn’t futile.
In spite of what you’ve heard.
Sometimes in the fight for right
No is the only word.

For to love humanity,
Means never saying “Yes”
To things that are inhuman,
Things that make us less.

Let’s gather our collective voice,
And together we’ll resist
Oppression and greed,
Hatred, and selfishness.

Oh, resistance isn’t futile.
It’s the only way.
To battle injustice.
When injustice comes our way.

Oh, resistance isn’t futile.
In spite of what you’ve heard.
Sometimes in the fight for right
No is the only word.

Resistance is futile,
So we’ve heard it said.
But those who’ve gone before us
And in whose path we tread.

Have shown us that the way to right
Is refusing to accept
The unacceptable wrong.
And braving the next step.

Oh, resistance isn’t futile.
It’s the only way.
To battle injustice.
When injustice comes our way.

Oh, resistance isn’t futile.
In spite of what you’ve heard.
Sometimes in the fight for right
No is the only word.

©2016 by Herb Tyson
Herb Tyson Singer/Songwriter

PIPER

Piper Perabo

actress Piper Perabo stars in the series COVERT AFFAIRS
#41705

Piper Perabo
#41751

Song Changes

Girl by John Nevarez

Many times songs have changed me through modulations from one key to another lifetime within a lifetime of experiences in a moment, a twinkling of an eye, a thrust of moving energies in the force of a song that told the story of who someone I didn't understand was. The songs were plenteous. They came from different people's tribes I knew not the language of or the custom that supported the structure of their composition. But, the singers like Oum Kalthoum and the late great Celia Cruz changed how the world physically felt and changed the way it felt being in the world as a man listening to two women from Egypt and Cuba singing the world they lived and saw. It is like being a part of a matrix of thought not your own that has not set you apart and said, 'Go home.'

"Have I ever had a song change the way I see the world?"

"Yes, I have." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3.27.15



Preservation series by Blake Little

 

It is so.

Marcia Mitchell, British soul singer
photo by Amy Hill photography
8 of 9
Jan 16, 2013

Gentile is the French word for gentle. It is in the French pronunciation the feel of the word is conveyed. It is an emotion. Gentleness cannot pose as anything else, and nothing else can pretend to be gentle. Gentleness permeates the atmosphere. It creates something authentic, and desirable within recipients. Gentleness comes out of people. It can be drawn out of people, if one is gentle. It arises to the occasion song and music presents temporal existence to experience the awareness of celestial forces within one's nature.

"Gently, she lay her head down and sighed into the hush of tomorrow, and the breath of sad goodbyes..." 

That would be a gentle song to sing. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10.4.13

classic beauty of a pregnant Black mother - Newne

RESTORATION: Mother's Songs

I have heard the broken hallelujahs and sang a few lines (maybe) but we all have the ability to change the channel or sing our new song or sit in silence a while..we often fail to see the blessing of events at the time they occur but there is always a blessing in it...I say lets not wait or want a disaster to come together and enjoy this grand place (Earth) . There is another line to a song "..the hope is that we are still complaining.." or something like that..Again I say I hope that is not the hope..words can be beautiful..so many hopeful things around us..the Earth and Sun share ALL with us..why do any less than that Grand Example on how to be...the Sun is not slave to Earth and Earth is not slave to Sun...between Earth and Sky much goes on...we can become beautiful again...Feel the Earth song and enjoy it or sing along..some are trying to get the tune or the beat or the melody..anything..don't give up on us ...I love you all.. - Joan Sunday 8.24.12



"Women from the beginning have cut across all barriers and joined our sisters to be a light unto the daughters...we seek no treasures of the earth or recompense or applause....as men beat their drums to heaven or hell....we quietly or not quietly foster care upon mankind...and continue within a patriarchal world mind set....to know within us we are not slaves and teach the daughters of the earth that this is true..." - Vivian Marquez 

Mother Earth energies 

ART OF BLACK LOVE

Life is always changing
Constant rearranging
But nothing changes with you
You never do

I go to different places
See a million faces, but
None as fine as you

Baby I have the honor
To love someone kind and true
I thank my lucky stars
For bringing me here to you

Like water flows down from a hill
And yellow grows on daffodils
I'm gonna learn to love you better
To the letter, baby
Like morning dew on southern pines
And honey that bees leave behind
I'm gonna love you sweet to the letter
You'll find no better

The look that's in your eyes
Gets me my courage
My strength I draw from you
You know I do, babe
The depth inside your soul
Fills my well of fantasies
I fill my cup with you

Baby I have the honor
To love someone kind and true
I thank my lucky stars
For bringing me here to you

Like water flows down from a hill
And yellow grows on daffodils
I'm gonna learn to love you better, baby
To the letter, baby
Like morning dew on southern pines
And honey that bees leave behind
I'm gonna love you sweet to the letter
You'll find no better

Baby I got the honor
To love someone kind and true
Thank my lucky stars
For bringing me here to you

Like water flows down from a hill
And yellow grows on daffodils
I'm gonna learn to love you better
To the letter
Like morning dew on southern pines
Honey that bees leave behind
I'm gonna love you sweet to the letter
You'll find no better...TO THE LETTER!

© Anita Baker  

REAL TALK

Chris Long Haired Wolf

Trace your walk...feel satisfaction in knowing
the end of the rainbow you have looked for can
be found at the toe of your moccasin after
realizing who we are...and what we have."
~John "Eagle Spirit" Campbell, Chief

"With a large bird above me, I am walking
around the sky. I entrust myself to the wind."
~Anishinaabeg dream song

Three Worlds - Chumash

There is this world in which we live, but there is also one above us and one
below us. There are two serpents that hold our world up from below. When
they are tired they move, and that causes earthquakes. The World above is
sustained by the great eagle. He never moves, he is always in the same spot.
When he gets tired of sustaining the upper world, he stretches his wings a
little, and this causes the phases of the moon. When there is an eclipse of
the moon it is because his wings cover it completely. And the water in the
springs and streams of this earth is the urine of the many frogs who live in
it.

From the Archives of Blue Panther

Here I am, Dawn Wolf on a porch in Anacostia Washington DC
across from the Anacostia museum.

I have always been Crow. My grandfather taught me the first six years of my life. It was a deep merging of a grandfather's life teaching and way into his grandson. It defined me. It set me apart from Black Americans during the height of the Civil Rights movement and brought me closer to the essence of the movement. Living in Africa was not what I expected. I was more Indian than African, less American and better at becoming myself. Returning to the US left more of the African in me.

As the years of growing continued my energies have become matter. My grandfather released me, years after his death, to talk about my life. I can now share what the Crow and the African have become within my essence, my manhood, my work. Being African and Indian in these times and this country requires thought and deep introspection. It is a bold act of power to be Indian in the context of Black life in American for obvious and not so obvious reasons.

I have long resented being defined by government. I never got close to getting a card. It is bad enough having a social security number. If I am going to be a part of a corporation, the USA, I want control of my definition, my perception and interpretation of who I am. ~ Gregory E. Woods (2007)

EAGLE IN THE SUN

My wings take me highTonight I stand on the edge of Black Hills where I was born high up on the edge of the world where my spirit entered.


I see our Earth Mother as she shifts and struggles to survive. I see my family as they hold on to the last of the ways and pray for the return of the Buffalo and Eagle Nation. Like the dry prairie grass the are holding on for the return of the healing rains.


The land is parched from lack of rain the plants hold tight to the dry breasts of Mother Earth, she cannot continue on this way to feed her children. Poison flows in her system and she suffers from this without tears.


With open arms, I put on my feathered eagle wings and prepare to fly into the moon lit night sky.
My strong wings take me high up to the stars. I once saw my people go there and they too became the stars. I feel their spirits all around me, watching us in sadness for the pain of the Earth Mother.


I see my son, my bothers, my sisters, mother, and father all my relations are the stars that shine. Each one is watching over us and protect us during the day and the night.
Tonight I will go and see my relation and ask them to send us the way to heal our Mother Earth.


May the thunder beings open up the clouds and wash her with healing rain. Let all this be so that our children and our children’s children will know the beauty that lies below me as I fly. I shall return in the rain with my spirit as the Eagle.



Blessing Waynonaha Two Worlds © 2005 by Waynonaha Two Worlds All publication rights reserved.

This song prayer echoes in all of us from Turtle Island as we work, build family, shop, and otherwise interact in the corporation (USA). I am going to buy cigars and walk as I pray in downtown DC. I will sing this prayer poem this afternoon. ~ Dawn Wolf