Lit the lamp bulb before the sunrise Before sparrow cry from thistle The kettle boil before it whistle The sky bleed purple The night fight before it die Squatting in the soil with a fistful But my hands been dirty since before I could grasp time Before we had new names Before we was new in our own eyes Grew crooked under gargoyle glares Two trains Tooken off on cops before they took aim Same greens cooking with a hock I grew them in the shade Used to plot on the come-up, plot on my brothers Now I get the tomatoes cropping sideways Stooped in the coop, gathering eggs Traded some to the neighbor for fresh bread I say I'm at peace, but it's still that same dread It's a funny feeling like knowing your enemies is in the feds It's hard to live when before you was dead Cup bitter at the bottom, I had to learn to toss the dregs It's land on either side of the car It's places no one knows who you are It's faces we never wore People we couldn't be before It's still things we never saw But I don't wanna see more I let the dog out the screen door