The sun slapped me last night -

Rippled me to the edge of earth

Where angels fly with broken wings and love with shattered hearts Moonwalk in their minds to the sounds of teardrops

Beating Michael and Marley, Mayfield and Marvin

Rest in peace

What’s going on?

You can’t teach soul like that

You can’t get this funk not to stink

So you just better breathe deep

And rock your head

Move your hips

Find God in the drum

Revolution in the bass

And make freedom look sexy tonight

The sun slapped me last night -

Rippled me to the edge of earth

Where angels resurrect newspaper clippings with God

In the time before times

When Halos shined through clouds like north stars to freedom Guided by the sounds of our flesh cutting through air

Listening to the words of ancestors beating against our skin

Using scars on backs as maps

We dream of better places

Where history remembers our name and the future’s born in our favour

So one time for the brothers and sisters in school

Challenging rules for better tomorrows

Fighting traditions and yesterdays

Serpent tongues and false smiles

You are evolution in tears and sweat

You are everything they read about but are too afraid to see:

The beating at the protest

The innocent man behind bars

The pain of the verdict after the cops kill a brother

Or stick him with a plunger

Ask your questions

Demand your answers

Do not let them fade your soul

So two times for the preachers not scared to preach the truth

Standing tall in ghettos, praying God blows his

Breath around these parts

Cause summertime heat has folk feeling violent

Saying it’s just too hot to believe God cares

So they bottle their frustration in beers

And wait to see those eyes

Feel that gaze

Something

Lord, make me a sign

Let me know you still care!

The sun slapped me last night -

Rippled me to the edge of earth

Where forgotten angels are ready for repatriation

Too proud to cry, so they fish fry

On corners and stoops

Backyards and barbershops

Arguing the world isn’t round

For we are the children of her dark corners

You will not fade our soul

I surrendered my beliefs

And found myself at the tree of life

Injecting my story into the veins of leaves

Only to find that stories like forests

Are subject to seasons