[Coup]

In one life I was a farmer born lowly into blistered lands
worn into existence with a mixture of soil and salted sweaty hands
It was then, against all odds, that I gave to Kingdoms and country
feeding fat children of old wealth, in need of wheat thins and barley

The Nobles too, fed from my garden; from my hand like sour pigs
I raised them, watched them harden- from kids to powdered Wigs
I saw them rise out of The Dark Ages, their power consolidation
a blanket of death housing a serpent frown around all our nations
squeezing my life as a puppet, of course pulling at sliver strings
until I died before Monarchs, but not before learning a few things

In another life I was born an Indian to a Seminole Chiefdom
I lived in unison and sung songs in one regional anthem
I had unintelligible wisdom and blossomed first like a native flower
deep rooted in ancestral soil under humid rainy showers
I grew peacefully under one million smitten Sun sets
learning again, yet another dialect a kin to written alphabets
in my last breath of fruition the Spanish fleets surprised us
we offered tobacco and corn, they gave us viruses

I died.

In another life I was a field hand in a sea of King Cotton
lost in some political translation, picking until soon forgotten
The smell of Yankee gun smoke flared obnoxiously to a Rebel Yell
and war broke out again, for freedom but not really in this Federal hell
Three hundred years later I achieved second class citizenship
get out of jail free card used to wipe up the same Ole shit again, shit

I died.

In another life I was Amelia Earhart flying a Sigma air plane
navigating blue oceans, clouds asphyxiated highly in my name
I crashed and disappeared on purpose for my own amusement
history ignores and creates fiction for those who never knew it

In another I was engineering Democracy as a factory laborer
lambs for lions in war profiteering, riveting helmets on toy soldiers
my name was Rosie and I was told to hate ambitious Hitler
I had stars and stripes to dream and awoken lonely to whisper
softly to myself that my life will only be that of some unknown
I will never age, never die, never know how fulfillment is thrown

I died ninety nine thousand times and lived one million years

I painted caves with blood of rivals and smiled
I sustained flint lock shots of musket tipped with vile
I had been a Titanic passenger, drowned but survived
I crashed stock markets and thrived, swallowed thorns and lied
I had been a prize fighter in the golden age of sport boxing
I walked batters and pitched no hitters, old age never knocking
I wrote lies for news papers and sold Ivory Coast sweet tooths
I fucked Marlyn Monroe and told Jackie Onassis half truths

The thing is, I live until I die
only to be reborn with Adams eye
I learned to believe half of what I see
and nothing of what I hear superficially
always witnessing the pains of history

Crying, Lying, Cheating, Hurting
that's all we seem to do, so good