HARLEM'S ANGELS

Written by Alceu Natali with copyrights protected by Law 9610/98. 

I SPENT A WEEK IN THE SO-CALLED ALL-BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE USA, IN NEW YORK AND CHICAGO, WHERE I WAS THE ONLY WHITE PERSON, AND I WAS TREATED LIKE ANY HUMAN BEING, JUST AS ONE EXPECT, WHICH MUST BE DISGUSTING TO RACISTS, BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A WHITE OR BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD. THERE ARE ONLY NEIGHBORHOODS OF HOMO SAPIENS, MADE OF THE SAME MATTER, THE FIRST MOLDED BY IGNORANCE AND ANIMAL PRACTICES, THE SECOND STILL BEARING THE MARKS OF SLAVERY.

When the heart of the Big Apple asks me to stay, The eyes of Manhattan sparkle, The blackness of the night sky disappears, It's the ivory pomp that shines, When I transport you to Tobago' Harlem, Calypso dances the night and sleeps with your caress, The light of your smile ignites in the darkness, It's your ebony path tracing the universe of your features, When you take me to Harlem in Chicago, I feel like a single island, As you wish, Bathed by the dark waters of a lake, Your reverence doesn't distinguish my color, When I sleep and wake I'm greeted as sir, Of citizenship, Enough of Your Lordship, And who would have guessed, With so many good African-American suitors, You would still choose me, When I bring you back to New York's Harlem I'll put you up at Birdland on 53rd, Jazz opens the night and stays awake until the last customer, Soul food washed down with blues, Our most intimate company is good news, My Angel Lady has eyes of ebony diamond, If it depends on the one who gave her home its name, The old Dutch Haarlem, I might even take a chance, And call you my modern princess, How good it is to daydream just for a moment!

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