Pay Day

PAY DAY – Jalal Mansur Nuriddin (from The Last Poets)

At a predestined date on the scales of fate
Of judgment and jurisdiction
The future had passed and the dye was cast
And mankind was in submission

Like a rolling clap of thunder
The Earth had torn asunder
And the dead had risen from the graves
From Adam on down they were gathered around
Wave upon wave upon wave

There were 3 main groups assembled with troops
The blind, the seeing and the saved
The scrolls were brought forth and held aloft
As to how they all behaved

Memories were dim after waking up again
Surprised at being alive
Death had passed and This Day was the last
To determine what souls would survive

Chorus: Payback, on the Payday Payday payback
On the Payday Payday payback (5 times)

There was no more boredom, eternity before them
As they recollected on their lives
Reflecting on humanity’s pursuit on vanity
In the midst of struggle and strife

Time was suspended, the accounting was rendered
And mankind was all stripped bare
Like a newborn child, file after file
In the middle of everywhere

Bodies and souls reminisced on their roles
They played when they walked on the Earth –
The day was hot, they were rooted to the spot
And would learn what their lives had been worth

The assembly was vast from the first to the last
Man, woman and child
The saints and the sinners . . . the losers and the winners
The vain, the vicious and the vile
The greedy, the needy . . . the sly the seedy
The suspicious, malicious and insane
The schemers, the dreamers and outright blasphemers
Who took the Lord’s Name in vain

The players, the betrayers . . . pseudo-soothsayers
The murderers, the murdered and the maimed
The treacherous, the lecherous . . . the rapists and escapists
And all those innocently slain . .

The innocent, the guilty . . . the washed and the filthy
The cunning, the crafty and the slick
The deceived and deceiver . . . the doubter and Believer
The liar and hypocrite

The quiet and the vocal . . . the helpful and hopeful
Forthright and forthwith
The humble and haughty . . . mischievous and naughty
The slow, the fast and quick

The leaders and the lead . . . the starved and the fed
The devious and devout
The lost and found . . . Black, yellow, red, white, brown
Nobody was left out!

Chorus: Payback, on the Payday Payday payback
On the Payday Payday payback (10 times)

Lost in thought what their hands had wrought
And to what extent they wondered
There was no going back to alter the fact
Of how much they had blundered. . .

The final decisions on the world’s religions
As to whether they strayed from the path
As they waited for their pay on that Final Day
From the Lord of Mercy and Wrath

The blind saw life with their eyes
The seeing saw with their hearts
The saved saw the wonder and awe
Of the creation and its parts

The records laid bare for all to see
The Prophets bore witness against you and me
“Indeed!”, it was announced
The righteous shall be pardoned
And rebellious trounced!

All mouths were sealed as each body revealed
What the minds had ordered them to do
And what they said sealed their fate
And their lives were on review

Each soul had their tale weighed in the scale
And no soul was treated unjust
All now knew the Word was true
And in Whom they should have placed their trust

The All was one . . . The One was all
By whichever Holy Name He was called

The future, the past . . . the first, the last
The even and the odd
The One Whom all of mankind
Had referred to as “The God.”

Some souls rebelled and some souls served
Everybody got paid what they deserved on Pay Day

Chorus: Payback, on the Payday Payday payback
Payback on the Payday Payday payback

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© 1997 Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin – Warner-Chappell Publishing. (listed on YouTube as "Payback")