Paroles Act ii: bloodline / growing older Rapsody

Act ii: bloodline / growing older

Divine design
Design
You can't deny this bloodline
Fruit of the vine
Her creation
I was born ready to shine

Momma I'm home, I know I'm home, I know the tone
I know the rhythm, the footwork in Nola and in Ghana
The second line, the second line in Nastradamus
You wanna ball till you fall, I'ma bring the drama
To colonizers, I'm Nat Turner and Ill Nana
It's bloodline whoopin' ass in my blood, Momma
Tall tees shining in my blood, Momma
Gold teeth, eleke beads in my blood, Momma
I got the soul and patience of an old timer
I know the womb and vagina designer of creation
I bet they look like Momma, I bet we similar faces
I call her Grandmama
A bag of sand, my earth, my wiz like Okolama
Taking steps to elevate, it's in my blood, Momma
Donna, another summer, I'ma walk her, strolling
Taking, beholding creation, what she made, me
Things that often cross your mind
When it comes to space and time
Things that often cross your mind
The ones you love and spend the time
Damn

My mother's getting older
Her house smells like my granny's used to
My mother's getting older
Turning silver 'cause she put herself second to our needs
My mother's getting older
She's moving slower but she's wiser than me
My mother's getting older
She can't remember, she always asking me the same old things
My mother's getting older

Time flies, ain't we blessed?
We get to count another day
Did some wrong, did some right
But hey, who's counting anyway?
When time flies, loved ones die
Mommas, daddies all turning grey
So we ain't got no time to worry 'bout it
Gotta cherish today

It takes time to be this beautiful, she takes the cake
Leaves I rake remind me beauty fades, but never in her face
As of late, she been preparing home, supportive things added on
Like rails in the shower for when she need support standing on
Her two feet, she tell me arrangements she thinkin' 'bout
This week it's mausoleums, I don't tell much to talk about
She tell me 'bout wills, where Daddy file 'em, I know
How important this is, I watch her sweep the dirt from the flo'
Realizing how quick this life is brushing by me
Them kids I helped to raise wit' all my sisters, they in college
And they call Momma "Granny," and they call Daddy "Poppy"
My bro got three and four-year-olds, and I know that her body
Can't hold them boys no mo' and pick them up like in the '90s
And one thing's still fasho, she fine and still don't look her mileage
We all is growing up, her house is changing climate
7-8 on the thermostat, she been upwardly dialin'
Our parents growing old

Time flies, ain't we blessed?
We get to count another day
Did some wrong, did some right
But hey, who's counting anyway?
When time flies, loved ones die
Mommas, daddies all turning grey
So we ain't got no time to worry 'bout it
Gotta cherish today

Intentional wit' my presence now
Mom and Dad gon' both lay down one day and not get up
That reality, it hit me like a bus driver on whiskey
And even wit' preparation, I'm not prepared, I'm scared
She call me for conversation 'bout location, where to lay her
My daddy work the graveyard
We just sent off Makaylah, and that rocked our family so hard
We've been blessed wit' such longevity now for so long
Hmmm, I wonder how Momma feel about the great beyond
And regardless what's been taught 'bout what's after and resurrection
On this day, my life'll be incomplete
'Member day my momma's momma died
I watched her weep from the hallway
Still today, I catch her eyes water off memory
Walking through her home on construction paper
Workers adding rails to the shower for when she'll maybe need em
"Baby," she call out, "If I die before your daddy
Don't you let him bring another woman in my home"
Gladly, I got her

Grandfather named Nay Ray
Daddy Du, Ma Lou, Laila Ray
Roots rootin', Momma turning grey, Daddy too
God, they so beautiful with age
House smell like old folks, more present in this stage
A/C on 78 with a space heater right next to 'em
They cool, grandkids get away with a lot more than we used to
Life 'bout learning, evolving, knowing better
Wisdom speak through me
On the phone, Momma tell me to stay home in bad weather
She worried, she never wrong
Send me Instagrams at 6 in the morning about life insurance and IRAs
Recipes she wanna try on her new cake
Wallpaper designs revamping the bathroom
Adding rails for when they'll need support in the shower
Washing they tail, I, I
I know aging is beautiful, but it come with some heartbreak
In the biblical days, they used to live thousands of years
I long for those calendar days, need more time here
Even though I hear the simple things are slipping away
What have we become? Rotten and drunk
Artificial Intelligence means we don't think as deep as we once thought

God, the Creator
The creative force, the source
The balance of divine feminine and divine masculine
I see God in you, you, in you, Rap-sody
One who brings things into existence, the creator
In the beginning, God created Eve in her own image
Through vibration, and placed her in the universe
And later, from her womb, Adam was—