Matthew Shenoda

from SONG OF REMEMBRANCE

Free like the facilities of Africa,
The taking of an anomaly
The mapping of rout
Free like the facilities of Africa

Song is a harmony, takes away the road
Disappear, disappear the victim's map
Before he come undone
One can never tell of wisdom's knot
Song is a harmony, takes away the road

How the soul does pretend
Refuge in the shade of acacia
Stolen on the land of sand
Loose is the root in decadence
How the soul does pretend

From under this canopy of thirst
Release shall come
This has been the story of sovereignty
This has been the story of hope

           Begin Believing
           Shift your gaze beyond
           Like the order of a midnight office
           Say loudly everything that need be said
           Train your gate to walk the dark

If every wanderer touched the sky
Was made full by Sah's direction
Spoken for in another language
Premonition would be our freedom

In the hail of lead fire
We were made to contemplate our veins
Understand the vestiture of desire
Cloaked in an impeding life
In the hail of lead fire

From the sinister gaze of the Atlantic
Its mouth curling with foam
Swept between a desolation
I found my way home
From the sinister gaze of the Atlantic

Whose skin we remember
Borrowed from the stitching of our past
She carried on this wanting
Whose skin we remember

          Anticipation
          A new land, like sea
          Vast like an upward spire, eroding
          The pain in your belly, new inertia
          And the yearning to forget

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