The Price of the Ticket

“Later, in the midnight hour, the missing identity aches.”
—James Baldwin, The Price of the Ticket

Write your notes back to home
In an alphabet they can’t read
Save your change for the phone
But no line could ever reach back

To a person that you’ll never be
To a country that you’ll never see
To a language that you’ll never speak

La dai dai...

Did you fall so far?
Somewhere they never dreamed
Did they make you the star
Of a story that never rings true

About a person that you’ll never be
And a country that you’ll never see
In a language that you’ll never speak

La dai dai...

If they held us down, hold me up
Hold them down to hold us up
Did I hold you down to hold me up?
When will we just rise up?