On April 19th My life was rearranged On that very day Everything began to change It was God's decision Father knows best In order to build character You must pass certain test I'm still standing My hero is gone Never told the man I loved him For going to work and always coming home ME: My Emotions, a collection of poetry by R.T.J.J., expresses his innermost thoughts and emotions. ME, an abbreviation of "my emotions," describes the turbulence and challenges that the author has faced on his journey to peace and acceptance. By the age of eleven, he had lost both of his patents and had become an alcoholic. At twelve, he went to jail, where he began smoking weed and PCP by the time he was thirteen. He finally put his troubled past behind him and returned to the church and God Almighty for forgiveness and redemption. Come along as his poetry evokes the bleakness of his past and the triumph of the new life that he has begun with Jesus Christ as his guide.

ME

(MY EMOTIONS)By R.T.J.J.

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2011 R.T.J.J.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-4143-6

Chapter One

          HERO

    Once he was there
    Then he was gone
    The man of the house
    No-longer home

    Paid the bills
    Bought us a house
    Drank 7 and 7
    While sitting on the couch

    Taking us shopping
    Loving our moms
    Guaranteed everyday
    He'd be coming home

    Taken from me
    When I was nine
    To really get to know him
    I never really had time

    Never saw me play sports
    Didn't live to see a game
    Most of my performances
    Would not have caused him shame

    Lost my guidance
    Discipline became naught
    Preparation for manhood
    Too many lessons I was never taught

    Going to the hospital
    Rolling him around in a bed
    Young mind unable to fathom
    That soon to soon this man would be dead

    Unable to understand
    Figured he'd be back in a week
    38 years later
    Self control I still seek

    On April 19th
    My life was rearranged
    On that very day
    Everything began to change

    It was GOD'S decision
    Father knows best
    In order to build character
    You must pass certain test

    I'm still standing
    My hero is gone
    Never told the man I loved him
    For going to work and always coming home

    R.T.J.J.


          CUD

    In the time that we were young
    Our little lives had just begun
    We were fresh fruit from GOD'S tree
    Never knowing what we would be

    Our father died and left our mother
    For us her children we had no other
    She lived, and died, she cared for us
    In our mother was love and all of our trust

    For we in our hearts must truly say
    That "in love with mother" we'll always stay
    She completed her life, she lived it in full
    With this cruel world she no longer has to duel

    She is resting in peace,
    She's resting in glory
    She leaves her children
    To tell her story

    R.T.J.J.


          Uncle Rob

    My second dad
    A man I loved
    From a completely different
    Line of blood

    Never judged me
    Always there
    Always listened
    Never once unfair

    No Condemnation
    Betrayal not a trait
    Lying was not a problem
    If he said it, it was a date

    Courage, Wisdom, and Strength
    From me has been taken away
    See, He was more that just my Uncle
    He was my friend, and my mainstay

    Always their for me
    Never felt neglect
    Feeling empty at my selfishness
    Because his passing had brought regret

    Today is a day of rejoicing
    My uncle has received his reward
    JESUS' WORD CANNOT LIE
    MORE POWERFUL THAN A TWO EDGED SWORD

    He promised He would come for us
    And call us to His own
    Said His Father's house has many mansions
    And for us He'd prepared a home

    My uncle has found his glory
    He's hit his perfect stride
    My God has blessed him with perfect Spirit
    That with the Saint's He may abide

    R.T.J.J


          THE MESSAGE

    Have you heard the message of GOD and His Love?
    How he sent His son from His glory above
    See JESUS died so that we might live
    Unselfish by nature only in love does He give

    See I believed no man
    Only the words of my own
    Til I searched through a book
    About a man and His Throne

    I said to myself
    This just can't be true
    Someone made this up
    Just out of the blue

    So I lived my life
    In a ungodly way
    Digging deeper into hell
    Day after day

    Using and abusing
    Those I loved most
    Getting with my friends
    And about this I would boast

    In and out of jail
    My second home
    When released to freedom
    The streets I did roam

    Always believing
    I was really a man
    The concept of manhood
    I couldn't understand

    Then I met a woman
    One I'd known but never knew
    And she told me that the story
    Of JESUS is true

    She said that He died
    And yet He still lives
    And if I asked Him in faith
    My sin he'd forgive

    She said get on your knees
    And pray to the LORD
...