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Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
0:07
mommy will miss her baby boy
0:10
somewhere her heart is crying a loud cry
0:13
but it’s quiet to those who don’t want
0:15
to hear i can see storm clouds in her
0:17
eyes
0:18
a lightning strike in the dark blood
0:20
saying concrete’s on the darkest hours
0:22
and a name dripping from the obituary
0:24
she recognizes
0:27
i would never know the black mother’s
0:29
ache
0:30
but i could imagine it tastes like a
0:32
bitter fruit
0:34
the root grew so tall in her womb and
0:36
once it was ripe enough
0:37
they devour each bite with fever
0:40
bitterness lingering on their tongues
0:41
never switched because it was forbidden
0:44
i would never know the black mother’s
0:46
ink
0:47
but i can imagine it looks blue
0:49
like brown skin turning blue due to
0:51
diffusion from the sound of i can’t
0:53
breathe and you’re choking me with the
0:55
blue that no longer runs through the
0:56
path of his veins
0:58
or might sound like the blues the smooth
1:01
soothing song that turns soul into story
1:03
how it collides over the ear and guitar
1:05
strings and harmony when she turns on
1:07
the radio to listen to his favorite
1:09
music another one has reportedly been
1:11
fatally shot
1:13
the melody of an already broken humanity
1:15
[Music]
1:21
i would never know the black mother’s
1:23
ache
1:24
but i can imagine that it sounds like
1:27
hands up don’t shoot or don’t shoot
1:29
hands up i can imagine that it feels
1:31
like history repeating itself like
1:33
driving back home from a long afternoon
1:35
and seeing your own child recycled each
1:38
week
1:38
a well-televised tragedy each time a
1:41
different body with the same skin same
1:43
hand holding the firearm and same cries
1:45
being left unheard
1:48
i would never know the black mother’s
1:49
egg
1:50
but i can imagine that it feels like a
1:52
delicate baby foot slipping right out of
1:54
her hand
1:55
even though she tried to hold on to it
1:57
forever
1:58
[Music]
2:02
i can imagine that it looks like forest
2:04
fires erupting from her lungs lava
2:06
pouring out of her lips a blistered hand
2:09
resting upon a flame hot blood running
2:11
through her veins in freedom ringing in
2:14
ashy remains
2:16
i can imagine that it looks like an
2:18
empty chair at a dinner table
2:20
and if you listen closely enough
2:22
you can hear the goodbye whisper to him
2:24
when he left
2:26
holding his heart in her hand hoping to
2:28
hear the hymn of his voice crescendo
2:30
through the phone
2:32
or you might hear the silence that this
2:33
goodbye used to fill
2:35
no more cries
2:37
no more tears
2:38
just the ache
2:40
can you hear that now
2:56
you
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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