[Intro — spoken over slack-key guitar, no drums yet] Gratitude is my attitude. Being a mother is how I speak as a lover. [Verse 1] I’m back into a routine of life spitting truth like a sharp blade knife. I wanna stand in love because I’m standing amongst my own mirror reflection — and I already did the true dissection. I love that image inside the mirror because I know that she is amongst my peer. I see clearly because I choose to hear me. My daughter is my greatest blessing, and I realize — I still can sing. [Pre-Chorus] Singing in my truth, singing the depths of every emotion that comes my way. And there’s nothing that any of you can ever say to persuade me from what I know is me. [Chorus — first pass, spoken, warm] I am you. And you are me. Just because I may have been my ancestor — I’m also the you in a different perspective of me. Empathy is not just a feeling because I want to feel your grief or your happiness. It’s because I am you. [Verse 2 — the kill/pill confession] The Army said, “Be all you can be” — but I knew that even before the Army tried to brainwash me. In the Army they would say kill — and I would say pill. And that made me realize that even my words can persuade me into a life that I didn’t want to live. Because I thought that pill was the better version of kill. So I had to live it. I had to walk through the withdrawal of my own rhyme. The Army said kill — and I said pill — as I stabbed the hay with my bayonet on the end of my rifle. [Bridge] So I know that my words that I speak into existence will always come true — no matter what I say. Good or bad. So why carry on with any kind of bad when I know that good is just the same? I know how to play their game because their game is mine to gain. [Verse 3 — the crossing] I’ve been knowing before I even jumped into this body. Spent a couple times that I left this body — maybe several times. And I’m sure now that each time that I almost died — I probably did die in that dimension. But this dimension shows me what life would have been had I continued to live. We live in an eternity. The past is happening — the same as the future — as the same as the now. It’s all happening simultaneously. [Chorus — second pass, strings swell under] I am you. And you are me. Just because I may have been my ancestor — I’m also the you in a different perspective of me. Empathy is not just a feeling because I want to feel your grief or your happiness. It’s because I am you. [Outro — spoken over fading slack-key, no drums] Gratitude is my attitude. Being a mother is how I speak as a lover. And I — am you.
