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Reverence and Ridicule
by
Layah Jane

chorus:
says she
“you all must be
the change you wish to see”
if I talk my speak but my walk is weak
show me just how to be
the change I wish to see

I endeavour to shed light on blindness
speak my mind with patience and kindness
you know what I’m doing, I’m scoping for hope
there’s no better time to share how we cope
if it’s not our own Mama Earth’s timeline
we all have our own steady rate of decline
to use as a context for our worry
tell me, with one more day would you slow down or hurry?

chorus

give me a green, green valley and a clean, clean lake
a solar-powered homestead so I don’t take
more than my share, of what is there
I’ll make a ginger tea to soothe me
dance to music that moves me
it’s amazing just what can be found
when you stand bare-feet firmly planted on the ground
it’s crazy just what you feel
when you stop long enough to uncover what’s real
blessings and beauty abound
in this life on this planet so fertile and round

chorus

it’s a battle uphill on a slippery slope
when there’s no woman in this business who has not been groped
by the hand of the industry’s standard of disguise
we are curling our lashes, instead of seeing through lies
how cute do we look in our brand-name clothes?
is that what sells our records over how our music flows?
what do we activate, multiple, replicate?
are you taking care with your share?
are you waxing clever, or highlighting your hair?

chorus

you can keep your radio song
take the next one too when it comes along
crafting your chorus for top dollar
the burden of your choices pressing your collar
I wonder sometimes if I have it in me
the resilience it takes to not let it win me
is my skin too thin?
or has it grown thicker since I chose to begin
this journey of projection of sound
we make in a room when there is no one else around
if I cannot get where I want to go
without stepping on my sisters who also want to grow
then this is not for me
I’ll take my thin-skinned integrity
over pushing and shoving to win the
audience we so greedily seek
if all of us were listening, what would you speak?

chorus

if all those with mass distribution
were using their power for peaceful revolution
I would rest easy in my bed
I would drain all the worry from my weary head
but, no, in my own tiny corner of this place
I am working to define my own little space
if I cause someone to feel a little deeper
walk on the path that’s just a little bit steeper
perhaps I have done what I can
maybe my mission went as planned…

what do you have at the end of your day?
are you loving as wide as you can in your way?
what would you scrawl down, what would you say
if I
hit
play?

co-written by Layah Jane & Oliver Johnson
http://www.layahjane.com