Their Struggle
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
Nobody knows but Jesus.”1
This is the chant I hear from the orchard
This is their chant of sorrow.
This is their chant against the world,
Against us.
Against our prejudice
Against the injustice they face.
Against the beatings
Against the work
Against their aching, overworked bones.
They fight against the world,
They fight for their freedom.
They keep fighting until their goal is reached.
They have freedom,
But no one knows it yet.
They steal away to Harlem,
all gathered in New York.
They steal away to forget their troubles,
to dance and pop a cork.
Jazz can be heard a block away
The sweet music loud and clear.
They try to fight the injustices
with beauty that is pleasing to the ear.
Now their fight is near the end
“No more pain (no more pain)
No more sufferin (no more sufferin)”2
They get up on stage
Spitting rhymes and swears.
They try to use their voice to speak against the injustice
that still haunts them to this day.
Equality is the goal
We’re almost there,
The same rights for every soul.
1 Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen by Louis Armstrong
2 All the Above by Maino ft. T-Pain