THIS IS A BLACKCURRANT PRESS PUBLICATION

Gifts From Above

Written by Dawn Iva DeBerry-Wright

Edited by Mr. Lynn Gipson

Copyright 2013

ISBN # 978-09840379-8-8

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by Blackcurrant

Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written

permission of Blackcurrant Press Company.

Printed in the United States of America

February 2014

THE INSPIRATION: Dawn Iva’s love for expressing herexperiences is a true gift from God and she is able to share it withall through writing. Her writings of fiction and non-fiction arepositive, and heartfelt. This has afforded her to become a knownPoet Laureate amongst her peers, her church family and theVeterans she cares for at the Manhattan VeteransAdministration, where she has worked for 30 years.

Gifts FromAbove

written by

Dawn Iva DeBerry�Wright

TABLE OF CONTENTS

POETRY FROMTHE HEART AND SOUL

1. A Gift From Above 2. After The Crying 4. All In One Year5. America’s Leading Hypocrites7. American’s Must Respect Each Other, Regardless of Race,

Creed or Color8. By His Stripes9. Call Jesus 10. Challenges11. Educate Our Young12. Ever Since the Day We Met13. Fall14. My Friend15. My First True Love17. My Joy, My Pain19. My Man20. God Remembers and He Knows 22. The Golden Key23. Help Us Lord24. I Will Always Remember 9/11/0125. Life’s Thanksgiving26. Lonely27. Love Is28. Love, Trust, and Understanding29. Passing Elegance30. The Pervade of My Heart31. Please Lord Grant Me Gifts32. Rest Yourself33. Spring Joy34. Thank You For Caring 35. Thanksgiving36. Time, Time, Time37. A Vision of Truth38. Well Done39. What the American Flag Means To Me41. When I Look Into Your Eyes42. When We’re Apart43. Window of the Soul44. My Wish45. Unconditional Bliss46. Writing, Reciting, and Delighting in Poetry

TABLE OF CONTENTS

POETRY OF NAMES AND EVENTS

48. Adrina

49. Angel Voice

50. Anthony’s Prayer

51. Babies

52. Benjamin Wright Jr.

53. Birth

54 Cainella and Abella

55 Darryl Lee

56 Dawn Iva DeBerry

57 Dental Assistant’s

58. Emanuel

59. Family

60. Father’s Day

61. My Father, My Daddy

62. My Father and Mother-in-Law

63. The Gatekeeper

64. Grammy, We Love You

65. Juanita F. James

66. Mr. Lynn

67. Marquita’s Journey

68. Mothers

69. Nieto (Grandson)

70. Our Pastor

71. Prayer

72. Proverb

73. Valerie Moore

74. Shamdu

75. Our Veterans

76. Women

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BALLAD POETRY FROM THE HEART FICTION ANDNON-FICTION

78. Because I Gained Weight

80. Black Faces

82. Black Is The Face Of Our Motherland Past

84. The Gigolo

86. Hola! Mi Nombre Es La Cocaina

89. Imagination

91. A Message To A Junkie

93. A Muslim Pimp

103. T’was the Christmas the Government Wanted

107. A Visit From Mr. Nick

111. You Don’t Walk In My Shoes

113. You Just Don’t Qualify

POETRY FROM THE HEARTAND SOUL!

a1

GIFTS FROM ABOVE

1

GIFTS FROM ABOVE

A GIFT FROM ABOVE

I know now my Love.

I know now you were sent from above.

Time will tell what both of us feel, but until then,

I’ll think of this love as more than just real.

Every morning I wake-up,

it feels like you’re right by my side,

and I’d be praying you haven’t grown wings,

and flown the blue outside.

So since you are attracted to me

and sent to me from the God we both Love.

I’ll always think of you my Love,

as a precious gift from above.■

2

Dawn Iva

“AFTER THE CRYING”

So now what?!... What happens after the crying and after the pain???

What have we learned??? What have we gained???

Is it knowledge to teach one, and be an example each day!?

Or do we let sinful pride seep into our souls and lock us away***…

Do we say to our loved ones,

“Honey, I tell you this from my heart, because I love you and I know”…

Or do we go about our busy schedules as we always do,

like things can only happen on a T.V. show***…

So now what?!... What happens after the crying and after the pain???

What have we learned??? What have we gained???

Dawn Iva

116

THE WRITER: Born Dawn Iva DeBerry in Bronx New York grew

up in Brooklyn. She is an accomplished Singer, Songwriter,

Toastmaster and Trumpeter, playing with the famed Jazz Band

Group of the 70’s Brass Construction, where she and her

classmates graduated from the high school Thomas Jefferson,

in East New York, Brooklyn. Dawn Iva loves to teach and

volunteer her time giving back to Gods people what he has

given to her. She has remarkably put herself through college at

a late age in her life after single parenting her two children and

being the caretaker for many of her family members and

friends. She has her degree in Community Health and

Counseling, and will soon continue furthering her education,

with more experiences to write about, because God is allowing

the journey to continue.