The Dozens

I had a few more questions

I never knew to ask

You were feeling downhearted

The last time we parted

With a shock of white hair

Life has changed a lot you know

And I'm kind of scared of that

It bottoms out in seconds flat

You said you had a good friend

He died so needlessly

Knocked over by a garbage truck

They threw him down

Then they picked him up

And your son was back home again

Your little boy and his children

He's fighting off a mean disease

That's killing off his faculties

Tell me a little joke

Let's play the dozens

Say something about my mama

In a veiled quadrille round

I'm just a white girl from a segregated town

And I'm looking for some answers

That I haven't found

I remember Memphis

Like it was yesterday

And a Ford station wagon

So full of us it was dragging

With your books in our grasping hands

We heard you speak

We made our plans

To hoist the flag and rule the world

All the hopes we had unfurled

Tell me a little joke

Let's play the dozens

Say something about my mama

In a veiled quadrille round

I'm just a white girl from a segregated town

And I'm looking for some answers

That I haven't found

I want to be just like you

I want to love first, I do

Look people in the eye

Make them feel good

Then I'll make them think

Just like you would

Y'all were off on a night stroll

Down the capitol boulevards

You were emboldening another son

Of this grand nation

I would vote for you for president

But you're floating with the butterflies

Soaring with the seagulls

Or the eagle as he takes the skies

Let's eat some democratic soup

And Eastern Market cheese

Meals with you and Cornelia

Were my most precious memories

I don't know what the hell to do

Please give me a little tap

Tell me I can take it

That I won't bottom out in seconds flat