The Day Will Come [Spoken Word]

Uploaded by UnfetteredAndAlive
THE DAY WILL COME
By Keegan Maharaj

Sung introduction:
"Who knows the truth and who tells the lies and who makes us cry?
Who knows the truth and who tells the lies and who makes us cry?"

They say I'm an Indian so the only sun I know about is the rising one
but this is about a forgiving Son...
[People murmur under their breaths, "Indian man doing spoken word, boy!"]
...but like a thief in the night, the Son was here
and we slept like babies and we slept like adults and we slept though it all.
Lots of people took the time to look behind and forgot what was in front of them
And so on the four corners of this round earth stood tasteless pillars of salt
and slowly we crumbled without leaving a trace of the old world,
without knowing that God was here last night
dressed as seventy thousand child soldiers in Burma
and thousands of women in Afghanistan
who are not allowed to drive because men prefer they stay inside.
This is not a Muslim thing, it's a man thing.
Even in 2011, we can still see people drinking from drains
and eating from bins and not eating at all.
And dem boys from the black tie party filling their faces with black gold
bought from distant places where the sun refuses to shine
as "Yes, we can!" slogans and "Peace is the answer." banners
take precedence over the things that really matter.
As we relish in this common wealth, I think about the common poor;
people who eat the same thing every day - a big, fat nothing!
You see, I wish to grow old and shake the locks in my heart
and read books written by my counterparts and swim in streams of milk and honey
and purchase Trinidadian art sold in Paris painted by the sons and daughters of the soil
who understand that freedom is a sham we all bought into.
And now there is no running away from those jail cells
we locked away our innocent thoughts in.
Bound and gagged, I looked over my left shoulder
and there is nobody to tell me what I should be doing at twenty five.
So every morning, I wake up and I feel like I just ate my own vomit,
and not a small measure, but a huge helping
as child miners, whose shovels have now been replaced with thoughtless pens,
are taught to give up and give in by men who know better.
I feel sad for those kids in Trinidad!
just as I feel sad for the ones in Flatbush and Louisiana
who can't seem to find themselves,
lost in a sea of self doubt and food stamps without flavour.

Financial AIDS is words than HIV,
and this New World Order is like spaghetti with shit for meatballs.

But I know the day will come when we will be a better people.
The day will come when we will rise again!
The day will come when we will see that nothing is wrong with interracial marriages.
The day will come when women will be treated with respect.
The day will come when men will treat women with respect.
The day will come when women will treat themselves with respect.
The day will come when spoken word will be taken out of the bars and placed into the schools.
The day will come when people will stop clapping for everything and clap for something.
The day will come when love will become a reality.
The day will come when we will love who we are and where we came from.
The day will come when all of us will laugh and cry and lift each other out of this nightmare.
The day will come when young men and old men,
and young women and old women will build a bridge
walk over the generation gap and say, "Sorry."
The day will come when one of us will tear down that Columbus statue in the square
The day will come when the system will fall.
The day will come when Haiti will no longer be treated like our bastard brother and sister
but our freedom mother.
The day will come when Africa and India will rock the world again
in the first cradles known to man.
The day will come when someone from our era will become the Prime Minister
and on that day we will pray that he or she remembers this day,
and remembers all those dreams of freedom we used to talk about when we were young.
The day will come when we will grow old and weary.
And the day will come when we will leave this place
and venture to that place where dreams are all that's real.
The day will come when the day will come but today is not that day.
So I choose,
and you choose,
and we must choose... to stay awake!

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................



A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Keegan Maharaj, for giving me permission to share this moving performance. With your faith and conviction, these are snake handling words. These are words that are urging us to seek deliverance and healing...

"17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” --The Bible, Mark 16:17-18.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare