Beauty, Thy Name is Sepia

I actually did a minor editing on this poem. I believe the color (Sepia) serves the verse as a more universal theme than the place (Nubia). Hope it doesn’t hurt the message, though.

Beauty, thy name is Sepia!

A king's ransom from far-flung Sheba;

An apparition stowed away in a shade of pearly-gray.

I pronounce your name

Like a stolen child squealing, with nostalgia for its mama.

Hot shot like coals pulled out of blazing fire;

I relish your dead-of-night shade.

                       

Shadow of an immortal sun;

The tint under a copse of trees;

Riding time’s backtrail like King Tutankhamun;

And as mystery-ridden as the valley of kings.

I look to you with pride and a deeper sense of awe.

                       

Your colored reflection

Is stunning beyond complexion.

Has a mystic resonance, I swear

Cause Beauty, thy name is Sepia.

                       

I lo’ the way you control the multitude

Flossin’ that black attitude.

Positive Ethiopian

Who the winner?

The buddy with the sable attribute!

The world is your page

Grab your ink tray,

Stand true, ka-tet of Chaka Zulu;

Redemption of the tribe of Qunu.

The enchanted midnight sun;

Radiance of a Black Diamond.

                       

Who else would arraign all the charms of you?

Tho, a fool’s errand it comes across to a few?

The pleasure’s all mine

Cause Negro, you are so fine.

Black, the African identity;

A bough overleaping walls of nationality

Reminiscences of you send up a shiver

Better believe that my brown sugar

Cause Beauty, thy name is Sepia.

                       

Cloak of the night giving off its unique light;

A dusky shape against a deepening sky:

Tinge of the night that glitters.

Dark knight in black shining armor

Riding a grey mustang, armed with a Negro-spiration.

To your personality I declare my everlasting love;

The mystery and memory of Nok.

                       

Labors of heroes past;

Geniuses of African origin

Rise from their ashes

In deference to the blooming coffee tree.

For they knew not which way to go

If you did not twinkle so.

Image of a gifted race,

Complexion of sheer grace,

Abused by the trade,

Disrespected by the niggardly

But royal blood would not remain caged

We had to come once more on the throes of a dream:

Any color as long as it’s black,

Beauty, thy name is Sepia!

                       

From the West a black sun bobfloats

Flung up by the kiss of the black rose.

Ha, you are a spray of emerald on gray;

Gold dust of a rare blend and hued

Pride of the slave-

Glory of the sons and daughters of former slaves.

Tough stain of freedom,

Color of revolution.

                       

Abused and scorned tho’ you may be

Live down to no man’s expectations.

It’s justification for the sacrifices;

The high prize of emancipation.

Ride with that negritude attitude to your pride of place.

Let the world know you had to come once more.

Black soulja rage.

Patent of a third world cont.

But from the point that the last’s goin’ ta be first.

Emblem of kings of the ancient kingdom

I’ll flatter your cap with peacock feathers

Beauty, thy name is Sepia!

                       

Lineage of an African tribe

Pleasure of the African shrines.

Nature’s eclipse

Tradition’s relic

Swag of the negro skin

Sum total of his definitive characteristic

The shaded glory

Nugget of the soul origin.

Black kryptonite

I dedicate the waste of this mortal life

To vocal your tinted worth and wonder:

Beauty, thy name is Sepia!

                       

                       

Akpan