Lyrics Trail Of The Smiling Sphinx - Matana Roberts

Trail Of The Smiling Sphinx

Tuesday, life goes on like the mighty waters on its way to the Gulf
Sometimes calm, sometimes dashing, waves high, peaceful still
He calmed the sea once with just a few words
I remember daddy stayed behind to talk with Reverend Fleetwood
It didn’t appear pleasant from a distance
But daddy was always talking sharp to somebody
Not in some mean way, just, you know, in that way
That he was letting them know that he was really listening
In that old soldier way of his, he was so scarred by that war
Haunted by ghosts in the far off corners of his mind
That I could never quite decipher
I am a child of the wind, even daddy said so
We used to race and I would always win
And he’d say «Run baby run, run like the wind, that’s it, the wind»
Memory is a most unusual thing, Wednesday
Her eyes would light up and lips curl when she told me
Of the heaven where black folks could enter any of the twelve pearly gates
And they walked on streets of gold and they all had shoes
She could tell stories with such humor and grace and she would often sing to me
I got shoes, they got shoes, everybody’s got shoes
When I get to heaven, gonna put on my shoes
I’m gonna walk all over that heaven, heaven
As the shades of night close in, and the day passes into the great beyond
I find myself at the end of another, I haven’t been too busy, just going along
My last glimpse was seeing her candy colored skin lit up by that bright hot
light
She was on her knees, head down, in a prayer that seemed was not being heard
Daddy in a stance, ready to defend what he felt was his right to be
The house of God, they said, was no place for the mixing of races
Some of those voices I could make out, Mr. Hancock of the dried good store
Mr. Hart of the livery stable, and even daddy’s cousin Thompsy McCall
Whose voice I could always recognize
Because it always seemed pitched to the lowest of the low
And he still had that accent that spoke of another far away far away place
That he couldn’t hide even if he wanted to
I am a child of the wind, even daddy said so
We used to race and I would always win
And he’d say «Run baby run, run like the wind, that’s it, the wind»
Memory is a most unusual thing, Thursday
A love you miss for an eternity
I am a child of the wind, even daddy said so
We used to race and I would always win
And he’d say «Run baby run, run like the wind, that’s it, the wind»
Memory is a most unusual thing, peace be still
So many a restless body is given peace, one way or the other
Do lord, oh do lord, oh do you remember me?
Do lord, oh do lord, oh do you remember me?
Do lord, oh do lord, oh do you remember me?
Oh do lord, oh do lord, oh do you remember me?