Dinah Washington – I Understand / This Bitter Earth

THIS BITTER EARTH
For Dinah Washington

This Bitter Earth,
That man calls home
Is nothing short of a blind man trying to find,
His way out of a burning house,
A child wakened this morning,
From the womb,
And there was life,
The earthy father says,
Open your eyes child,
Tomorrow will be alone,
In a world of man,
The image of whiteness asks,
Is the child of day or night?
It is a child of night,
With that answer,
Destiny in part,
Has been written,
Only the children of day-light,
Will not suffer from the white hand,
Of man-made fate,
And death smiles, knowing,
That in the end,
All children,
Return to darkness,
This bitter earth,
That the remains of man,
Become a part,
After death kisses life,
Back to dust,
I weep the tears of salt,
Man, Is not the ideal of mankind,
This bitter earth,
Dust, clay, hands, birth, images of whom?
God,
An earthly mother, wo-man,
Image of a virgin,
Gives birth,
To a child of God and man - Good and Evil,
The earthly mother,
Holds her child close to the heart,
That once pumped blood for two lives - She smiles,
And looks down into a new face of life,
Whose eyes have yet to focus in this world,
At the moment of birth the child is,
Devoid of bitterness,
Grow gentle child into this world,
It is darker than the womb,
Welcome - to the womb of the world child,
Dripping with the after birth,
Of the children before you,
No childhood is evil -
What's beyond the darkness of tomorrow
(Death man sing a song for the living the children of yesterday are growing old in the ways of man),
The earthly mother says,
Welcome to the world my child,
And the newborn cries,
Kiss the tears of the child, mother
They are without salt,
And fate says,
Welcome child of man,
Welcome child,
This is earth,
The earthly father says,
Open your eyes child,
You are as black as the night,
Tomorrow you will be - Alone,
In the world of man,
Dust, clay, hands, birth, images of whom?

L.E. SCOTT