If I Could (Tell You)

[1] If I could put it in an open letter

And tattoo that on my skin so I won’t forget it,

I’d probably say something cliché, like “Hope is better.”

Knowing’s never an excuse for not trying to go and get some more.

And they say we got a lot of nerve

To ask for justice, as if it’s something not deserved.

When he went to prison it was ‘cause he had a lot to serve.

Living’s like a game of chicken, and the mission’s not to swerve.

So you get it how you gotta. Living for today and not tomorrow

Ain’t as hard when you starving.

I thank my lucky stars to be able to say,

It’s kind of like a fixed ball game, and you gotta play.

So you won’t catch me judging how he tried to find a way.

To make it from the first to the third ain’t ever safe.

But winning’s like an inning. The rules of running the base

Is three outs, aka KKK [and then you’re struck].

[Hook]

Still looking forward to a greater day,

But I can’t say enough phrases to take the pain away.

And we still straining through changes and living with dangers.

As plain as I can say it, I wonder if we will make it.

I ain’t looking to shake what I’m facing. I’m trying to break it.

And if there was an easier road, I wouldn’t take it.

If I was you, I wouldn’t take it.

But I’m just me, and I won’t take it.

[2] If I could tell you how I really feel,

I’d tell you it’s a real cold world with an infinite chill.

No need to say what you already know.

And if you sleeping then the po-po is like NoDōz.

No indictments, no rights when they violate you;

Repeated disrespect when you asking them why they hate you.

Land of Brotherhood—if my Brother’s under a hood

And terrorizing me, then my family ain’t all that good.

And if the hood’s a badge, and my brother’s shooting me down,

And other family members see others looting the town,

And blame it on the victim, then we gotta change the system

For our daughters and our fathers and our mothers and our sisters.

If I could tell you how I really feel:

America, here and right now, feels like the Killing Fields,

Because we’re fighting for rights, and nobody’s civil still.

Sometimes it’s hard believing this is really real.

[Hook]

Still looking forward to a greater day,

But I can’t say enough phrases to take the pain away.

And we still straining through changes and living with dangers.

As plain as I can say it, I wonder if we will make it.

I ain’t looking to shake what I’m facing. I’m trying to break it.

And if there was an easier road, I wouldn’t take it.

If I was you, I wouldn’t take it.

But I’m just me, and I won’t take it.

Still looking forward to a greater day,

But I can’t say enough phrases to take the pain away.

And we still straining through changes and living with dangers.

As plain as I can say it, I wonder if we will make it.

I ain’t looking to shake what I’m facing. I’m trying to break it.

And if there was an easier road, I wouldn’t take it.

If I was you, I wouldn’t take it.

But I’m just me, and I won’t take it.