Burning in Birmingham

[Verse 1]
Bloody blows to my face
Call me out on my race
At war making love to you
Broken spines down the line
The say nothing's mine
It’s the joke of racism

[Chorus]
We're burning in Birmingham
We are
We're burning in Birmingham
We are

[Verse 2]
Bloody blows to my face
Call me out on my race
At war making love to you
Broken spines down the line
The say nothing’s mine
It's the joke of racism

[Chorus]
We're burning in Birmingham
We are
We're burning, burning, burning in Birmingham

[Bridge]
Dear God
I've been here before
This place is the opposite of light
To love in a world like this
Is to love without breathing
Sometimes I love without breathing
You know, I heard somewhere that Black women
Are impossible to love
Most likely to lead a single life, unmarried
The last of the crop in every season
But Black women are still picked, though
When you touch them
Your hands bleed from the thorns
'Cause they got cotten sticking to their hips like Genesis
And they expect us to
Sit back
And swallow
To sit back
And ease
To sit back
And break every single bone in our bodies
'Til we learn how to follow their lead
We are always second to some
White mans apology
Our children are always second
To some white mans wink, smirk, and nod
I am a wink, smirk, and nod
I am the laughing stock amongst the angels
As they await their next sacrifice
Dear God I have some questions about this unfathomable rumble in my chest
God, why, why was it so easy for me to sink to the bottom of this ocean
My ancestors wailing out in complaint
Askin' questions like
"Didn’t we do this already?"
"Didn’t we die for them?"
"Who let Jim back in the White House?"
"I thought we got rid of that nigga"
No
Nigga be electric
Nigga be Black
Nigga be the only one
In the wrong place, at the wrong time
And I, I am the only one left singing
So God, tell me
What happens
What happens when I lose my voice?
What happens when the sun refuses to rise?
What happens when my son refuses to die?
What happens when the jury refuses to acknowledge the history in my cry?
Three days later and no one is coming
God
What then?
What then?
I need to know
'Cause this looks a whole lot like Revelations
I can’t tell if we're being killed or saved
All I know is
That I am blood-stained
And these men
These men keep telling me about my body
They force me to have a baby
And then kill it for me
A different kind of pillaging

[Outro]
But you know I heard somewhere that
Black women are impossible to love
And I got that
'Cause once we start to love you
Your days are numbered
And that eulogy that I wrote
Memorized
Line
By
Line
Will be delivered
Early