Beautiful Pain

Put em up, them bruises are beautiful
These key ingredients are beautiful
Like cheekbone birthmarks in the shapes of roses, or
Third degree burns that retired firemen earned
What a privilege!
Like Auntie not embarrassed of her scars
Proves that she's cancerless
Breast-less, but breathless, (huh)
That's pain
Like handcrafted scars, a tapestry of bruises
It's beautiful mutilation like branding and tattoos is
That's pain, huh
Like ancient pagan practices of scarification -
It damages skin horribly, but them marks demark royalty
That's pain, huh
Marred in a Potter's hands, that's pain
Off on purpose
But if you don't know your purpose, you might feel worthless
That's pain
Like hearing the buzz of the motor as that needle digs deep
Shoving ink further, forcing it, no, piercing it into permanence
That's pain
Made to get another, bottling up my tears till the day that we rise
Toss your arthritis filled knuckles to the sky, that's pain
But they're beautiful
Like Hail Mary full of grace
She was proud of her stretch marks
How her skin expanded to bring forth the Son of Man
That's pain
But it's beautiful
It's beautiful, like villages just before we "discovered" 'em
It's beautiful
Like Grandmama singing in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, see
We used to stay home for Martin Luther King, homie, I'm from South Central, and that's beautiful
You is looking at a lastborn, rightful heir to the throne, son of a nobody with poverty in my bones, and that's beautiful
We ain't never had nothing, but nothing was sufficient
It kept my belly full of the stuff the rich was missing, and that's beautiful
Thank God for the tax return that got us up outta there, that's beautiful
So in honor of Jimi Hendrix, I string life's instrument backwards
And choose to play the back cause in the Word, the last is first and that's beautiful
(The last is first.)

The pain...is beautiful
Your mutilation...is beautiful
Your life tattoo...is beautiful