[Intro]
Where we’re from, we’re born out of a cloud of witnesses
Who watched or walked through cotton-rich swamp-sick streets clamoring for freedom
Who snuck along the piny margins, meeting under the moon and moss
Just far enough out of sight of the white columns and the patrolling guns
Laying out plans at the feet of the stars
Looking upward for a glinting nod
A beam of dusty light to mark the way

[Verse 1]
Put us under and when the moment is passed
Slowly bring us back
And if it drags on, no need for alarm
Disconnect us

[Chorus]
This is only momentary
Swayed into a trance
This is just monetary
We are all so innocent

[Verse 2]
Take your pleasure or pain, whatever you lust
It comes right to your door
Except if the messenger dare show his face
It’s yours on a platter
[Chorus]
This is only momentary
Flay us for our skin
This is just monetary
We are all so innocent and dumb

[Outro]
When we die, the neighbors will bring casseroles
Drag shows will be held in our honor
Prayers will be shuttled upwards like paper boats slipped up onto a pond by patient hands
Fluttering in clouds of stars and interstate exhaust
In Urdu, in Muskogee, in Spanish, in Somali
The community centers and union halls will swell with songs that were old before we were born
The marchers in the boulevard will take their knee, raise their fist, drop their face
Silent in the midday traffic like a stone in a quick river
When we die, our beloved, our kinfolk, fear not
We rise