We Were Beautiful

I was black as I could be

Hearing voices telling me

Walk away from everything

No, I wasn't meant to go

Far away from those I know

To some desolate below

We were in urban scene

Where they grind the coffee bean

And the women are oblique

And the boys are paper thin

Ragged bears upon their chin

We were on the outside looking in

Rise above the present day

Rise above the popular melee

I see you the way you are

I see you, the scar

We were beautiful before this went down

We were beautiful before the years came and turned it upside down

We were beautiful before we got wise

We were beautiful with sky and blanket laying low

I am hanging on the line

I'm on duty all the time

I am your Samaritan on call

I could try my best to heal

All the emptiness you feel

In the giving I will be alight

We were wrapped around our roots

Nothing on except our boots

We were intimate around the waist

We were settling our scores

We were healing over sores

We were living out the pleasure that we lost

We were beautiful before this went down

We were beautiful before the years came and turned it upside down

We were beautiful for all the time and space

I will tell it to the sun and I will tell it to

If you listen to the night

We can hear the madmen fight

Hear the foxes making out

But the people all immune

Sleeping silent in their rooms

Growing bodies, with their sleep

Making plans inside their heads

Making love to shadow friends

You are not too old to change

Happy only comes after the pain

Of you

And me

We were beautiful before the years came and turned it upside down

We were beautiful before we got wise

We were beautiful with sky and blanket, feel me now

We were beautiful before this went down

We were beautiful before the years came and turned it upside down

We were beautiful for all the time and space

I will tell it to the sun and I will tell it to your face