Matana Roberts In The Fold
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
Oh, this little light of mine
I thought maybe mama would come looking for me
I'm not sure what was happening but if I do recall
I could hear mama screaming his name in a defeated kind of lovesickness
As I ran, I was so scared but I knew they would find me
I had never been so hungry
Daddy taught me how to fashion a knife out of a stick
And I tried to catch me a rabbit but that old rabbit was faster than me
One day, I came out of the clearing and I started exploring the edges of the woods
And there was this oddly covered plate
I pulled back the fabric and it was dripping
With gravy and biscuits and grits and fatback
I knew it might be a trap but my stomach defied me
And it became routine
Each day, it would be set further out of reach
And each day, I would inch a bit closer towards home
A new home, home, a new home, home, a new home
I am a child of the wind, even daddy said so
We used to race and I would always win
And he said "Run baby run, run like the wind, that's it, the wind"
Memory is a most unusual thing, one day
I never knew how they found me in those woods
But their love drew me close somehow
I never saw mama again and I had somehow knew that daddy had walked on
Many years later, I heard that mama had died in the asylum
It hurt me so, I prayed, she was taken in her lonesomeness
Those hooded bastards beat her senseless
To the point where she could not remember their transgressions
That's good, I suppose
I am a child of the wind, even daddy said so
We used to race and I would always win
And he said "Run baby run, run like the wind, that's it, the wind"
Memory is a most unusual thing, someday
As the evening shades are drawn and this day comes to an end
I am reminded of the shades of life are being drawn with me
My physical window will soon be darkened as I sit in here and cry and write
My mind has gone many places
I am not the person I have been
Well, things could be worse
It's so long for now
Forgive us, we pray
Forgive us, we pray
Forgive us, we pray
I am a child of the wind, even daddy said so
We used to race and I would always win
And he said "Run baby run, run like that wind, that's it, the wind"
Memory is a most unusual thing
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
