I'm still here
These song notes are kite notes
Fire blinking, spelling love in Morse code
Floating between bars with messages of life boats
No more pipelines, the pipe broke
We melted every cage into a key until our mouths could recite hope
He said when it rains he pretends the cement is the smell of wet stone
He said I want my grandkids to find fossils
Of prisons smelling sour like dead bones
The moon bowed to the birdsong morning
I'm trying to find god in an octave I'm still exploring
I mailed you libraries they threw em in the trash
The warden took your freedom but couldn't shackle your laugh
That's not dew, the prison grass is crying
The weeds that grow through the cracks is freedom trying
Birds drop seeds in the prison yard
Growing gardens of hope conspiring in the dark
The vines make a ladder and drape the barbwire
A crow flies overhead and drops a lighter
Orange reflects from her eye the image is fire
The ash swirls like a galaxy the stars wink and admire
He said They will never be able to break me
Turns out that's what broke the bars
I've been reflecting on that lately
He said I was dedicated to building things, not tearing them down
He said If you can breathe you can get through anything
I'm hearing him now
He said If you can breathe you can get through anything
I'm hearing him now
I'm still here
A defined voice
They removed my whisper
From general population to maximum security
I gain a voice
They removed my voice from maximum security
To administrative segregation
My voice gave hope
They removed my voice from administrative segregation
To solitary confinement
My voice became vibration for unity
They removed by voice from solitary confinement
To the supermax of Camp J
And now they wish to destroy me
The louder my voice
The deeper they bury me
I said, the louder my voice
The deeper they bury me
Free all political prisoners
Prisoners of war
Prisoners of consciousness
Herman Wallace, Angola 3
I'm still here
This is for
Herman Wallace
Russell Maroon Shoatz
Marilyn Buck
Alvaro Luna-Hernandez
Iya Fulani Sunni-Ali
Romaine Chip Fitzgerald
Afeni Shakur
Delbert Africa
Safiya Asya Bukhari
Richard Mafundi Lake
Oscar Washington
Luis Rodriguez
Mondo We Langa
Phil Africa
Brian McCarvill
Hugo Yogi Bear Pinell
Geronimo Ji Jaga
William Lefty Gilday
Alan Berkman
Eddie Hatcher
Bashir Hameed
Robert Hillary King
Merle Africa
Kuwasi Balagoon
Robert Webb
Tom Manning
And
Albert Woodfox
Dream of future, know your history
Organize your people, fight to win