Talk to Strangers

[Saul Williams] Nah I wasn't raised at gunpoint, and I've read too many books To distract me from the mirror, when unhappy with my looks And I ain't got proper diction, for the makings of a thug Though I grew up in the ghetto, and my niggas all sold drugs And though that may validate me for a spot on MTV Or get me all the airplay, that my bank account would need I was hoping to invest in, a lesson that I learned When I thought this fool would jump me, just because it was my turn I went to an open space cause I knew he wouldn't do it Where somebody there could see him, or somebody else might prove it And maybe in their eyes, it may seem I got punked out Cause I walked a narrow path, and then went and changed my route But that openness exposed me to a truth I couldn't find In the clenched fists of my ego or the confines of my mind In the hipness of my swagger, or the swagger in my step Or the scowl of my grimace, or the meanness of my rep Cause we represent a truth son, that changes by the hour And when you're open to it, vulnerability is power And in that shifting form you'll find a truth that doesn't change And that truth's living proof, of the fact God is strange Talk to strangers When the family fails and friends led you astray And Buddha laughs and Jesus weeps and turns out God is gay As angels' and messiahs' love can come in many forms The hallways of your projects or the fat girl in your dorm And when you finally take the time to see what they're about Perhaps you find they're lonely or their wisdom trips you out Maybe you'll find the cycles end Right back where you began, but come this time around You'll have someone to hold your hand Who prays for you who is there for you Who sends you love and light, exposes you to parts of you That you once tried to fight And come this time around you choose to walk a different path You'll embrace what you turned away and cry at what you laughed Because that's the only way we're going to make it through this storm Where ignorance is common sense and senseless is the norm And flags wave high above the truth, and the two never touch And stolen goods are overpriced and freedom costs too much And no one seems to recognize the symbols come to life The bitten apple on the screen and Jesus had a wife And she was his messiah like that stranger may be yours Who holds a subtle knife that carves through worlds like magic doors And that's what I've been looking for The bridge from then to now Just watching BET like, "What the fuck, son, this is foul" But that's where ?boxed in? represents This fear that we live in, the world is not a flat screen I ain't trying to fit in But this ain't for the underground this here is for the sun A seed a stranger gave to me and planted on my tongue And when I look at you, I know I'm not the only one As a great man once said, "There's nothing more powerful than an idea Whose time has come."