I'm the phoenix rising

from the ashes of death row

I stand as the

love that just would not fold

we grew grassroots

under the steel machine

their hate couldn't stop our growth

I'm the hope

reinstilled inside the hopeless capsules

formerly known as men

at the end

I found a way to begin

the catacomb couldn't hold me

I came out more holy

death kissed my lips and said-

"rise up hungry!"

now my appetite is ferocious

for life

not a crumb shall be wasted

as I serve this 3 course meal of

struggle, spiritualism and liberation

and I won't stop

until our nation

is full

I'm lost in the tears

of those that got pulled

into this killer whale

can you feel my smiles across the miles

as my lips hold up the pain trickling down my face

my brother said-

"forgive them for they know not what they do."

I left at 402

but not before I stood

eye to eye w/ the beast

a one way exit

under the release of

governmental poison

but the voices of the people

would not cease

I was at peace

but at war

I'm haunted by the thought

that there will be so many more

i implore the Ancestors as guides

i'm tore by the facts of

genocide on our backs

somebody replay the track to

"walk with me"

the execution chamber was calling me

i responded w/

"HELL NO I WON'T GO!"

they dragged me tho'

the CEDP hit 'em w/ political bombs

to silence their throats

crying for blood

never once did we light a candle

but kept the fire lit from above

if we did it once

we can do it again

let's be a radical wind

friend to storms that tear down the Walls

i can still hear the calls

of comrades drowned

in this rain of terror

i caress my scars

& reflect on the 10 years

when i was too stubborn to bow to stigmas

i wouldn't listen to the system

i survived on Nydesha's kisses

when oppression was served on the tray

it's a new day

"No Struggle, No Progress"

the vanguard way

from Austin to Ithaca

they heard what we had to say

Rome to Venezuela

i'm not home 'til we persuade 'em

w/ the Power of the People

that I must be free

as long as I have breath in my lungs

freedom is within my grasp

until then I will be

on a Move &

on a DRIVE

alive, licking & mobilizing

we won't stop 'til we change the tide

one for our love that just would not subside

I'm the phoenix that had to rise

resurrected from the ashes of death row

as I declared in "the prophecy"

victory is mine

victory

is

mine!

(In memory of DaRoyce Mosely and John Amador)