03-21-2013, 03:38 PM
There you go again
Doing your diaspora act
Alone and with the others
You add a blue note here
It's the same act
In blackface
Or under the lights
Or in private
You hit the same beats, the same marks
It works on some corners
Plays well to certain crowds
Some audiences take it up as their own
But you shed it when you go home
You won't entertain it from your family
You won't allow your children to play
The role
Time comes to drop the diaspora act
But outside the house, when?
When you're alone? Surrounded by others?
Do you drop it then
Or do you drop it
When you're surrounded by yourself
By yourselves
Cornered
Who in you, the many yous, will finally lay its burden down
Lay your burden down
Is it time yet? Is it safe?
Doing your diaspora act
Alone and with the others
You add a blue note here
It's the same act
In blackface
Or under the lights
Or in private
You hit the same beats, the same marks
It works on some corners
Plays well to certain crowds
Some audiences take it up as their own
But you shed it when you go home
You won't entertain it from your family
You won't allow your children to play
The role
Time comes to drop the diaspora act
But outside the house, when?
When you're alone? Surrounded by others?
Do you drop it then
Or do you drop it
When you're surrounded by yourself
By yourselves
Cornered
Who in you, the many yous, will finally lay its burden down
Lay your burden down
Is it time yet? Is it safe?