This Here Is Mine

Ma Janie tried to take my man from me.

Crept through the shadows with that policeman on her arm,

I saw her go after my sisters’ before.

Ma Janie’s took a lot of stuff from me before.

I handed her the slack in my spine,

Didn’t need it to walk around no ways.

Let her paint a new smile on my face for the lady of the house,

It looked like they could both use a nice one nowadays.

I even repented for sins I never committed,

The things she wanted to do but never could.

All of us girls are always being redeemed for what we’ve never done.

Washing invisible stains from our souls like the ones in those pearly white sheets.

But if the Lady and Ma Janie

Can see remnants of the lives they never led,

Then every single one of us

Has to pour out our blood that should’ve bled red.

No more red life essence,

Maybe yellow because dainty is as a woman does.

All the “right” things they teach us,

And I’ve never learned about how to have love for myself.

I found a man to care about me

And I found him all on my own.

Finally got something that I know is mine,

Mine and mine alone.

I don’t need his love to feel like me,

But it sure feels nice to know that I have it.

So, Ma Janie and the Lady can take my walk, my talk, my smile, and my job.

But this man here is mine.

You can’t have ‘im Ma Janie.

You can’t have ‘im.