“It is dangerous for a woman to defy the gods;
To taunt them with the tongue’s thin tip.”
Anne Spencer, “Letter to My Sister”
To taunt them with the tongue’s thin tip.”
Anne Spencer, “Letter to My Sister”
Oh, she would not bow her eyes
And she could not tell him lies
And she would not be his pawn
He can’t abide the words she speaks
Her tongue’s a slap across his cheek
And she would not meet the dawn.
No one will stand for your arrogance.
What did the black man tell the cop
As they stood at the traffic stop
That made a hand reach for a gun?
And he won’t have time to figure
The killing word that pulled the trigger
And he will not meet the sun.
No one will stand for your arrogance.
There is a list of names that grows
A book of rules that no one knows
Til the day you cross the line
The way a wolf wants a sheep
The way your nightmare wants your sleep
You’re a time bomb in a policeman’s eye.
No one will stand for your arrogance.
