Jada Pinkett Smith Shares Never-Before-Seen Poem By Tupac

Jada Pinkett Smith is celebrating what would have been Tupac Shakur‘s 50th birthday with a previously unreleased poem written by the late music legend. She shared his hand-written work that you may have never heard before, on her social media captioned “down memory lane.”

Tupac Amaru Shakur would have been 50 midnight tonight!” Jada, 49, wrote on Instagram. “As we prepare to celebrate his legacy … let’s remember him for that which we loved most … his way with words. Here are a few you may have never heard before.”

For the occasion, The Red Table Talk host shared one of her prized possessions: a hand-written poem from the late rapper, who died in 1996, on lined notebook paper.

“Pac wrote me many letters and many poems. And I don’t think this has ever been published honestly,” Jada said in a video tribute, while revealing one of his unreleased poems, titled “Lost Soulz.” She said he later dropped the song “Lost Souls,” but believes he wrote this “original concept” while incarcerated at Rikers Island in New York.

She explained, “I don’t think he would have minded that I shared this with you guys.“

In blue pen, Tupac wrote out the following poem: “Some say nothing gold can last forever / And 2 believe this [I] need no proof / I have witnessed all that was pure in me / And be changed by the evil men can do / The innocence possessed by children / Once lived inside my soul / But surviving years with criminal peers / Has turned my warm heart to cold / I used 2 dream and fantasize / But now I’m scared 2 sleep / Petrified, not to live or die / But to awaken and still be me / It is true that nothing gold can last / We will all one day see death / When the purest hearts are torn apart / LOST SOULS are all that’s left / Down on my knees I beg of God / To save me from this fate / Let me live to see what was gold in me / Before it is all too late.”

He signed it, “Yours, Tupac.”