On Beauty

[Intro]
You can't curse nobody. Who you think you is? Look at you. You're black, you're poor, you're ugly, you're woman, you're nothing at all!

[Verse 1: Akua Naru]
Yo, we started out lost, born in a war
Searchin' for escape, throw hymns at tenor voices sung to the Lord
Tell it all, when we enter the door
Just for four hours long
Spit in the mirror, Jesus watch from the wall
Features [?], he said "Come as you are"
So we come as a scar, shards of glass on the neck is the trauma
Dark behind the mask, patent leather on smash
Church hats cover wigs over so-called naps
Spirits is high, saints try to relax
Dr. King, he [?] cocoa butter, blue magic
Every [?] hand clap, is attached to a past
Post, present, traumatic stress, patterned under the lash
I wonder, what happens to the questions we never ask?
As time passes, [?] travellin' on that new bus pass
Broke and Mama out of gas, [?]
Couldn't afford a cab, pass the ride up in that new S-class

[Chorus: Akua Naru]
(You're black) as the face of God, [?] see your star
Brightest like [?], scholars know who you are
(Poor) [?] on the boulevard
World [?] scars, wealth built an empire
(Ugly) till you in the dark, aroused and spread apart
Portrait been the work of art, beauty on [?]
(You're woman) [?], you in this modern war
Caged in confusion in a world that's never known beauty

[Verse 2: Akua Naru]
Uh, yo, orphan plate, pass, metal reflects, kind of blue
Under the stained glass, ten-percent tithes of hard-earned cash
Hundred percent of rent late, confused by the math
The pressure saved by an organ playin' "This too shall pass"
Panoramic view is on from the pew in the back
Peek the Devil jugglin' the blame of another relapse
Watch him laugh, [?] attention [?]
[?] the entrance, casin' the victim since the night before last
See the list goes on and on beyond the length of the song
Father of David, father of Joshua, father of John
While our mothers pray for a compass, figured where they belong
In the name of the Son, our name's gone, 15:21
Black daughters, new world for girls haunted by where we from
Straight in the problem, read the scripture, "Bluest Eye" on our tongues
As the choir rise to harmonize, tragedy [?]
Sister next to me whisper, "God is good all the time"

[Chorus: Akua Naru]
(You're black) as the face of God, [?] see your star
Brightest like [?], scholars know who you are
(Poor) [?] on the boulevard
World [?] scars, wealth built an empire
(Ugly) till you in the dark, aroused and spread apart
Portrait been the work of art, beauty on [?]
(You're woman) [?], you in this modern war
Caged in confusion in a world that's never known beauty
(You're black) as the face of God, [?] see your star
Brightest like [?], scholars know who you are
(Poor) [?] on the boulevard
World [?] scars, wealth built an empire
(Ugly) till you in the dark, aroused and spread apart
Portrait been the work of art, beauty on [?]
(You're woman) [?], you in this modern war
Caged in confusion in a world that's never known beauty

[Outro]
Caged in confusion in a world that's never known beauty