Josiah Vermont

There’s this scene that keeps playing through the back of my head
where my back is against the wall and they’re surrounding me
In this dream all my family and my close friends are dead
A voice whispering in my ear says “You can still be free”
Well, baby, you and i have been down through some rough streets before
like the time you got the message that was directed at someone from my past
You stuck through all those fires i put you through, and more..
Could have deserted me sooo many times, but instead you made it last

I’d just bought my first car, must have been eight-teen back then
There was a girl in the picture, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen
”Who is that girl?” I can still recall asking my best friend
He said “who, her?” and turned up Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean
Now you don’t have the looks that would win Miss World for him
but there’s richness in your features, your smile melts all the cold in me
If loving you was a crime I’d make Most Wanted’s top ten
I need you like the earth craves wind, like sand needs sea

Still remember our first time at the movies like it was yesterday
I recall your skirt, hair, and lips but not the screen
At two a.m. your momma wouldn’t hear anything I’d say
They sent you away and i didn’t see you again until you reached nineteen
There you were on that artistic tip and studying for your doctorate
You loved that song by Dead Prez and we lived off of stew chicken with rice n peas
When i was kicking back with you everything was copasetic
Asked if i ever thought of moving, and i laughed “don’t worry about me”

You called it- they gave me six months plus two years
When i came back everyone i ever knew was gone
I tried to link you but your momma said you disappeared
Your best friend Natalie said she thought i should move on
So here i am tonight with this dream that won’t fade away
Been trying to sleep through till morning light after watching the sunset
But all i get are nightmares, they’d make an atheist pray
And your memory is a haunt that i never can forget

So i found out you got your life together the way your parents said you should
and tried again through Natalie and she said now your Mom is sooo proud
But there were so many times growing up we had her knocking on wood
and after dark you’d sneak out to me even though you weren’t allowed
And now I’m a lonely man with kids and I’m almost forty two
Got a good job, life, great friends, and they help me get through
These things i always wanted that now i finally got to do
And I’d trade every one of them for one more chance with you

Seems like only yesterday.. in residence.. we were doing laundry
You said “mix the whites with the blues” then spilled a cap of bleach down your sleeve
Then you were playing Dry Cry on repeat in the Nissan by Sizzla Kalonji
and you were the only person besides me getting Chinese on Christmas Eve
Where was I? Oh yeah- back to that conversation with Natalie
She said you have a kid and she knows he’s doing well in school
He must take after Mommy.. I guess someone out there’s a proud Daddy
knowing his son isn’t growing up to be a fool

Now you and i have gone down through some rough streets before
so if you need me just link Natalie, you can always give me a ring
For you, I’d go to the moon and back or more
Barry white said it best- “My first, my last, my everything”
There’s this scene in my mind, iron in my hand
They’re yelling “This is the police! You have no escape!”
I keep waking up at that part where I’m making my last stand
Gives me a premonition but you always said “dreams don’t walk straight”
In the land of the living though, this is an icy world
and i remember the time you said you could no longer be my girl
If you change your mind, don’t let one more day pass you by because
you should be with me