How Does It Feel...'

How does it feel

To be inside

An Explosion?

 

Was there time

To Flash upon

The way we came?

 

Came from childhood

of horror and hope

To black awakening

petition and protest

Massed in resistance

to their whip and wars

Came youth on fire

fighting for freedom

Naming the enemy

Learning war through war

in the world revolution.

 

 Was there time

To flash upon

The way we carne?

 

Diana and Ted and Terry 

Dead inside an explosion.

 

 No one of us will ever be the same.

 

 We have to go

Thru so many changes

 When things come down

The way they do.

 

When comrades die

We cry.

 

When comrades die

We avenge.

 

When comrades die

We ask why.

 

We have to go

Through so many changes

When things come down

The way they do.

 

Slaves

Sang spirituals

In code

On the underground railway.

 

And before

l'd be a slave

I'll be buried

In my grave

 

Fighting with those

Who fought to be free.

 

Oh Freedom!

 

Harriet Tubman

Black revolutionary

Leading groups

Along the way.

 

When one stopped

Afraid

Wanting to turn back

She spoke of slavery and freedom.

 

And there were times

When she

Drew a gun and said

There is no turning back.

 

Oh Freedom!

 

Explosions in the night

Scream power

Death

To the slavemasters!

 

Fear of death

is so

For real

Because we fight for life

 

On the underground railway

Fighting with those

Who fought

To be free.

 

Revolution

Means learning things

The hard way

Through doing them.

 

People have to be together

When making bombs

And revolutions

Have to plan

Think past the act

Within a strategy

Consider al! the angles

Work carefully

People have to be together.

 

Know and treasure every person

For people do the planting

And every swallowed fear

Or unsaid word of caution

Each new idea

All the loves and strengths

Are part of becoming together

When making bombs

And revolutions.

It doesn't mean don 't do it

It means making sure you do it.

 

An hour, a week,

A month that's taken

to insure a victory

is time well taken.

 

And time is on our side.

It doesn't mean don't do it

it means being able to do it again.

 

Every one involved

Should understand

How and why everything works

So they can use and teach it.

 

Understand so they

Can be prepared

For the unexpected

Can meet new needs.

 

So they can insure

Their safety

Effectively aim

In the desired direction.

 

Break through

The powerlessness

Programmed

In the technological mystique.

 

Don't let a question pass

Because others might think you ignorant

They may be glad you asked

It may mean life.

 

Don't let a fear be buried

Because others might think you weak

Everyone is afraid

To deny it may mean life

 

The same fear

Unraised

Could allow an enemy to escape

Just execution

 

A fear may change history

There may be grounds for fear

That raising it can remedy

Don't be afraid to speak your fear.

 

Go to an isolated place

To practice

Try different devices

Watch what they do.

 

You are doing this

As part of the struggle

Not to prove

That you can do it.

 

We're Communists

Violence is a tool

Terror a tactic

Not a proof of manhood

 

Keep cool

Don't be afraid to change or flow

Be real

People have to be together.

 

The slow one now may later be fast.

 

And when the lives and loves

The strategy and plan

Have been struggled through

Then do it.

 

The revolutionary bomb

Contains the dynamite

Of mass anger

Packed tightly

Near blasting caps

Of leadership

Fire carried by fuses

Of propaganda

The spark is set

By revolutionaries.

 

It is well timed.

It has a safety switch.

It is well placed

 

And it does a lot of damage.

 

When it explodes

It should speak

Clearly

It should attack

An enemy

Of the people.

 

An explosion follows

The path of least resistance.

 

Pry open a contradiction

And shoot the fire through.

 

Fit the bomb 

To the target.

 

Bombs are one thing

Guns another

There are many ways to fight.

 

Learn war.

 

Uncle Ho said

Those with swords will use swords

Those with hoes

Will use hoes in the heroic war.

 

Create weapons that everyone can use

Materials at the corner store

Build an army and militia

Masses win the war.

 

Have a party to lead.

 

Chairman Mao says

An army without culture

Is a dull witted one

 

The seeds of a new culture

Have been planted on this continent

Harvested by venceremos brigades

Che lives

And inside the monster

Black voices shout of freedom

Youth gathers to celebrate life.

 

Culture

Is the way you live your life.

 

Lives

Point the way

The warmth and honesty

For realness

Of being with the ones you love

Non exclusively.

 

Pushing outward.

Learning from

And teaching

The lives you cross.

 

Pushing outward

For the way

To change reality

Is to know it

 

Laughter and joy

Are real

When people

Are fighting together

 

How does it feel

To be inside

An Explosion?

 

Was there time

To flash upon

The way we came?

 

Two women escaped

And are free

To carry on.

 

Where is Rap Brown?

Weatherman

Cannot be found

Because they're finding

Ways of revolution.

 

Change a face

Discard a name

No one of us will ever be the same.

 

Tearing away

At the heart of the monster

Not hiding

But living lives

 

Of care and confidence

 

The war expands

As victory comes near

Avenge the Kent State 4.

 

The campuses

Explode in anger

Don't let them weaken us.

 

Shut it down.

 

Four in Ohio

Six in black Augusta

Two at Jackson State

 

When the black rebellions break

Draw the pigs away

Fight for our freedom

Each time they take a life

Or move on us

Prepare to move on them

Our heroes will be avenged

They have sucked and spilled

The blood of millions

In taking their lives

The blood of freedom flows

 

Humanity

Twists and turns

in struggle

Making love

And revolution

 

We shall gather

In Parks

Named for

 

The women and the men

Who led the way.

 

There will be time

 

To flash upon

The way we came.

 

Along the way

There will be

Twists and turns

Struggle, love

And revolution.

 

We shall gather

In homes

Of brothersisterhood

Building Bombs

Of communism.

 

Diana and Ted and Terry

Dead inside an explosion.

 

No one of us will ever be the same.

 

Diana is

A teacher

She loves children

Loves life.

 

She is gentle

Warm and close

With those she knows

Diana is.

 

Ted is

A speaker and songwriter

Quick and a little awkward

Loves life.

 

He is funny

Plays baseball

Laughs and sings

Ted is.

 

Lovers of Humanity

 

Human

 

Flash upon the way they came.

 

Pig papers ask

Why are the children of America

Making bombs?

 

Why did these good kids go bad?

 

They can't understand

But sisters and brothers

We do.

 

It is because

They were so human

 

Lovers of Humanity

 

That they came from childhood

of horror and hope

To black awakening

petition and protest

Massed in resistance

to their whip and wars

Came youth on fire

fighting for freedom

Naming the enemy

embracing our friends

Learning war through war

in the world of revolution.