Black Cowboys
Bruce Springsteen Lyrics

Rainey Williams' playground was the Mott Haven streets where he ran past melted candles and flower wreaths, names and photos of young black faces, whose death and blood consecrated these places.
Rainey Williams grew up playing in the streets of Mott Haven, where he ran past memorials for young black people who had died violent deaths, each one a reminder of the pain and suffering that had occurred right in his own community.

Rainey's mother said, "Rainey stay at my side, for you are my blessing you are my pride. It's your love here that keeps my soul alive. I want you to come home from school and stay inside."
Rainey's mother loved and cherished him, and was afraid for his safety in their dangerous neighborhood. She wanted him to stay close to her and stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the dangers outside.

Rainey'd do his work and put his books away. There was a channel showed a western movie everyday. Lynette brought him home books on the black cowboys of the Oklahoma range and the Seminole scouts who fought the tribes of the Great Plains.
Rainey was a studious and hard-working young man who loved to learn. He enjoyed watching Westerns on TV and reading books about the often-overlooked black cowboys of Oklahoma and the brave Seminole scouts who fought against Native American tribes on the Great Plains.

Summer come and the days grew long. Rainey always had his mother's smile to depend on. Along a street of stray bullets he made his way, to the warmth of her arms at the end of each day.
As summer approached, Rainey relied on his mother's love and support to keep him going. Despite the dangers of his neighborhood, he made his way through the streets to her warm embrace every evening.

Come the fall the rain flooded these homes, here in Ezekiel's valley of dry bones, it fell hard and dark to the ground. It fell without a sound.
When fall came, heavy rains flooded the homes and streets of Mott Haven, turning it into a valley of death and despair. The rain fell heavily and silently, adding to the feeling of hopelessness and desperation.

Lynette took up with a man whose business was the boulevard, whose smile was fixed in a face that was never off guard. In the pipes 'neath the kitchen sink his secrets he kept. In the day, behind drawn curtains, in Lynette's bedroom he slept.
Rainey's friend Lynette became involved with a man who was involved in illegal activities on the boulevard. He was always on guard and kept his secrets hidden in the pipes under the kitchen sink. He slept in Lynette's bedroom during the day, behind closed curtains.

Then she got lost in the days. The smile Rainey depended on dusted away, the arms that held him were no more his home. He lay at night his head pressed to her chest listening to the ghost in her bones.
Eventually, Lynette became lost to the world and no longer had the cheerful smile or comforting embrace that Rainey had come to rely on. He lay with his head on her chest at night, listening to the sound of her bones and feeling lost and alone.

In the kitchen Rainey slipped his hand between the pipes. From a brown bag pulled five hundred dollar bills and stuck it in his coat side, stood in the dark at his mother's bed, brushed her hair and kissed her eyes.
In an act of desperation, Rainey stole money from Lynette's boyfriend hidden in the pipes under the kitchen sink. He then went to his mother's bedside, brushed her hair, and kissed her eyes as if it might be the last time he would ever see her.

In the twilight Rainey walked to the station along streets of stone. Through Pennsylvania and Ohio his train drifted on. Through the small towns of Indiana the big train crept, as he lay his head back on the seat and slept. He awoke and the towns gave way to muddy fields of green, corn and cotton and an endless nothin' in between. Over the rutted hills of Oklahoma the red sun slipped and was gone. The moon rose and stripped the earth to its bone.
Rainey left the only world he had ever known and took a train journey through America's heartland. As the train carried him from state to state, he watched as the landscape changed from urban to rural, and witnessed firsthand the vast emptiness of middle America. As the sun set and the moon rose, he was filled with a sense of both sadness and possibility as he embarked on a new chapter of his life.