In Honor and Love, Extended

As I nestle in with my cup ‘o Joe and pen in hand, I am reminiscing as usual. But I am also thinking about history and the future. I have concluded that in this time and age, we ALL want and need love. The display of love should not just be about this month and all its connotations. More importantly, we need to share love continuously through giving of self or just saying ‘I Love You’. That can be more rewarding than any gift you can give.

I ponder on my own life as a child… growing up in the country with humble beginnings. But with the love of family and through God’s grace, I persevered. And my ancestry has taught me so much about unconditional love. I had a God-fearing and strong mother who taught me and my 5 siblings ‘from whence cometh our help…’ She fervently instilled good morals, values, and loving others unconditionally. What my mother passed down to us emanated from someone who lived on this earth over 102 years - her mother and my Grandmother. Without her, there would be no us. In appreciation of Black History and love, today I honor a loving, brave and strong woman, Bessie Johnson-Howard (10-10-10 – 7-31-13). She lived, loved and sacrificed for her 12 children. As she extended her love and touched many other lives, she was known as Momma, Auntie, Grandma, Miss Bessie, but most of us just called her ‘Madea.’

Love Extended

Over a hundred years ago

She really bore us all

Over a hundred years ago

She took the fall

For what was to come

And what was to be

For what the future held

For the family

Over a hundred years ago

She didn’t know

A hundred years would pass

And she would live and last

Through blood, sweat, and tears

All over a hundred years

To see the light

Of that age-old fight

That was fought for you

And for me too

The right to live freely

For over a hundred years

A hundred years

Is a century

A hundred years long

Something WE may never see

But think one minute

Just take a peek

At life through her eyes

All in a century

Births, marriages, deaths

Defining the family tree

Out-living some of her own

All in a span of

A century

And what’s amazing is

Her life didn’t stop there

She lives and keeps living

A bloodline that streams

Through many veins

And more to come

As her off-springs

Had off-springs

Springing off those

And then some…

So, the moral of

This story is

That a seed of love was planted

And that seed lives

and lives… and lives

through our Madea

In Love,

~PJ Payne