I Know Lyrics

I know the world will not slow down

No matter how fiercely

I stretch my fists to the sun

I know how to pray

I know I am always praying

No matter my physical position

No matter the words you think you hear

I am always in conversation with Spirit

We converse like two old women

On a Mississippi wooden porch

Chipped paint

Head scarves

Sweet tea

Dogs barking at strangers

Flies at our feet

I know God like that

Don't you

I will take my last breath one day

This is not an if

Before I do I wanna tell these stories

So shut up in my bones

I drag around like wet towels sopping up

Tears my grandmother's mother's mother passed down

Stories that come to me in the night from folks I don't know

Ain't got nothing to do with me

Except they know I know how to get a prayer through

And a story straight

I don't know everything

But I know that getting back to the basics

Is the best business at hand

I know we are nothing without each other

What does it matter all this good I have

If heavy on your mind so muddy

You can't inhale longer than you blink

What good are fancy dresses

And red bottom shoes

If they 'bout to cut off her father's feet

I know sometimes the clouds get low

I know there are days I feel stuck in a mass of

Sadness and fear and anxiety sudoku my brain so math

I forget the numbers to dial

But I know how to reach

I know how to be still

I know how to rock and sing

I know how to cry

I know how to remember how good

God's been to me

I know how to wave hand

I know how to give thanks

I know how to close eyes

I know how to know that clouds pass

I know ain't none of this easy

So I know how to give you me

When clouds come to you

I know therapy sessions should be held at Roscoe's

Chicken and Waffles

Over grits and eggs

Prayed over by a greasy hand man with a handkerchief

In his pocket

I know that

I know food ain't free

But I know how to cut mine in four

So we can all eat

I know it's up to me

I know it's up to you

I know I am learning how to forgive

I know that forgiveness does not mean

Stories won't rise

But I know how to let them out

Same one by one way they got in there

I know that I am wonderful

I know that I forget how wonderful I am

I know how to remember the next time I do

I know to open my eyes

And look right into you