When the Smoke Remembers - Ayoa & Kaelo - Bennie Mellies

[Verse 1 — Ayoa, Female] The flowers burned without turning black Copper rising from the ground Then the forest raised my father Leaving without looking round I saw my mother in the rainfall Saying words I couldn’t hear And the child I thought I buried Standing empty-handed there Every instinct said keep moving But your hand came down, not tight You didn’t pull me from the circle You only asked me not to hide [Pre-Chorus — Kaelo, Male] Mi coulda broken every picture Made the whole place disappear But what vanished from the clearing Would still be living in your fear [Chorus — Both] When the smoke remembers Let it say what it came to say Let it wear the face of yesterday Till I no longer look away When the smoke remembers You don’t have to make it leave Don’t carry me out of the circle Just stay here while I breathe [Verse 2 — Ayoa, Female] The moment I stopped running Every picture changed its tone My mother’s anger softened My father turned before he’d gone And the child I kept beneath me Wasn’t shattered, wasn’t weak She had only waited all these years For me to let her speak The past did not grow smaller Nothing vanished from the scene But it loosened from around me When I faced what it had been [Pre-Chorus — Kaelo, Male] I kept my hand upon your shoulder Not to tell you where to stand Only so your body knew it You could face it—and still have my hand [Chorus — Both] When the smoke remembers Let it say what it came to say Let it wear the face of yesterday Till I no longer look away When the smoke remembers You don’t have to make it leave Don’t carry me out of the circle Just stay here while I breathe [Bridge — Ayoa, Female] I am not the door that closed I am not the words I missed I am not that frightened child With empty hands and tightened fists I can hold the whole memory Without letting it hold me What I lost belongs within me But it does not finish me [Bridge Extension — Kaelo, Male] I will never call you broken For the tears you let me see Some truths do not need an answer Only room enough to breathe [Final Chorus — Both] When the smoke remembers Now I know why it returned Not to drag me to the ending But to show me what still burns When the smoke remembers I don’t ask it now to leave You don’t carry me out of the circle You stay here while I breathe When the smoke remembers I can meet it as I am With the past before my eyes And your steady, open hand Nothing hidden Nothing denied I can face what came before me Without living there tonight [Outro — Ayoa, Female] The forest lowered every flame The figures faded with the heat You never saved me from the memory You stayed until it loosened me [outro piano] [outro whisper] Ben, Ben, Bennie pon di riddim Mmmmhhhh.....