Heron Vs the Demon - Paul Edward-Francis

This is called The Vulture And a lot of people think it's a poem And after they hear me sing it they're sure it's a poem But, uh We're gonna take a shot at it anyway Remember this is a feel like thing Do whatever you feel like If you feel like clapping your hands You can do that Standing in the ruins Oh, of another black man's life Or flying through the valley There, separating day and night "I am death", cried the vulture "Yes, for the people of the light" Charon brought his raft Then came from a sea that sails on souls I saw the scavenger departing Oh, taking warm hearts to the cold He knew the ghetto was a haven For the meanest creature ever known In a wilderness of heartbreak Yes and a desert of despair Evil's clarion of justice Oh, shrieks a cry of naked terror He's taking babies from their mamas And leaving grief beyond compare You see the vulture coming And he's flying circles in your mind There'll be no escaping For he will follow close behind Only promised me a battle Yeah, a battle for your soul and mine Your soul and mine He's taking babies from their mamas And he's leaving Leaving Leaving Leaving Leaving Thank you, that's called The Vulture

His eyes half-closed revealed his world of nod A world of lonely men and no love, no god His life of seeming nonchalance can't hide The pain and fear that in his mind reside From dawn till dawn, his body houses hurt And none of us can truly aid his search We sit outside and sing cliches, the fool It's always easy to forecast other's doom The savage beast that once so soothed his brain Has reared it's ugly head and staked its claim Call Yama, here sits one more soul That he will have to add to sorrows toll These men, still men, would be like you and me But when the world reached out they chose to flee

Here I am After so many years Hounded by hatred And trapped by fear I'm in a box I've got no place to go If I follow my mind I know I'll slaughter my own Help me I'm the prisoner Won't you hear my plea I need somebody Yeah, to listen to me I beg you Brothers and sisters I'm counting on you (yeah) Black babies in the womb Are shackled and bound Chained by the caveman Who keeps beauty down Smacked on the ass When they're squalling and wet Heir to a spineless man who Never forgets Never forgets that he's a prisoner Can't you hear my plea 'Cause I need somebody Lord knows, to listen to me I'm a stranger to my son who wonders Why his daddy runs, yeah... On my way to work in the morning When I don't give a damn Can't nobody, can't nobody, can't nobody Can't nobody see just who in hell I am? Hemmed in by a suit Yes, all choked up in a tie Ain't no wonder sometimes near morning I hear my woman cry She knows her man is a prisoner Won't you hear my plea Yeah, 'cause I need somebody Woah, to listen to me My woman she don't say But she hates to see her man Chained this way, yeah Help me, I'm the prisoner Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... I'm the prisoner

See that black boy over there, runnin' scared His ol' man's in a bottle He done quit his 9 to 5 to drink full time So now he's livin' in the bottle See that Black boy over there, runnin' scared His ol' man got a problem Pawned off damn near everything, his ol' Woman's weddin' ring for a bottle And don't you think it's a crime When time after time, people in the bottle See that sista, sho wuz fine before she Started drinkin' wine From the bottle Said her ol' man committed a crime And he's doin' time So now she's in the bottle She's out there on the avenue, all by herself Sho' needs help from the bottle Preacherman tried to help her out She cussed him out and hit him in the head with a bottle And don't you think it's a crime When time after time, people in the bottle See that gent in the wrinkled suit He done damn near blown his cool To the bottle