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Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude Lyrics by Kamau Brathwaite

Humboldt Caribbean Lit

0

Brathwaite's reading of these poems can be heard on SoundCloud or by opening this annotation
Didn't He Ramble1So to New York London
I finally come
hope in my belly
hate smothered down
to the bone
to suit the part
I am playing
That summer was fine:
newspaper notices
variety acts
what the heart lacked
we supplied with our hips
and the art
of our shuffle shoes
But with the winter I knew
I was old. Poor
Tom was cold. Feet
could no longer walk the fallen
gold of parks. Gates
closed, the pavements
skidded blue and fro-
zen. To and fro
I walked, I wandered; wind
cut my face with its true
Gillette razor blades and snow
burnt the rivers' bridges. In my small hired
room, stretched out upon the New
York Herald Tribune, pages
damp from dirty lots, from locked
out parks, from gutters; dark, tired,
deaf, cold, too old to care to catch
alight the quick match of your pity,
I died alone, without the benefit of fire.
2Bring me now where the warm wind
blows, where the grasses
sigh, where the sweet
tongue'd blossom flowers
where the showers
fan soft like a fisherman's
net thrown through the sweet-
ened air
Bring me now where the workers
rest, where the cotton drifts,
where the rivers are
and the minstrel sits
on the logwood stump
with the dreams of his slow guitar.
3But my sons grow fat, grow
fat, far from the slow guitar.
See them zoot suits, man? Them black
Texan hats? Watch false teeth
flash; fake friendship makes them mock
your grief
and overnight they are
the people's choice, the people's politicians. So
it's now grab the can, grab all
you can and give it to your
selves, the poor.
Let's legislate that black
is white and white that black
dominion that we aim for evermore.
So burn the crops
raise flash car cities
I am Selassie
and Selassie God
black snow falls from my heaven.
You scratch my drum
I beat your violin
I who was once your slave
now slay my captive friend.
4But perhaps I am too far
away to care about these
things. Here
once more the good
soil warms me, worms
now warn me of the too much faith
the too much fear
of others. The skin's
destroyer in this soft subsidence
obeys impartial laws.
And I no longer lonely now
long for the drums to speak,
the violins listen
before they begin, the slow
guitars converse.
Long, too, for flowers:
not for their spider-feet of roots that now trans-
fix me, but for their touch
of surfaces, of shapes, of colours,
and of course the various
scents that really give them
meaning.
And I should like to see
my children's children:
slender shoots: the grow-
ing green reminders
of the seeds I gave.
Will their blooms find my grave?
Will they too share the rocks,
the charcoal bed,
lost gold, the fire trail
of fear, the silent paths
of forest we shall not know
again?
Or do I hear them mock
my sons: my own sons mock-
ing me?
PreludeMemories are smoke
lips we can't kiss
hands we can't hold
will never be
enough for us;
for we have learned
to live with sun
with sin
with soil
with rock
with iron
toil
no dreams
for us
no hopes
no scabs
to heal
in the hot
sun neither
no screams
no whip rope
lash
no sweat-
ing free-
ness either.
Just give us
what we earn
in bright bold
cash
before we
smash
and grab
it.
To hell
with Af-
rica
to hell
with Eu-
rope too,
just call my blue
black bloody spade
a spade and kiss
my ass. O-
kay? So
let's begin.
Credits
Kamau Brathwaite

Kamau Brathwaite

About “Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude” by Kamau Brathwaite

Read the complete lyrics to "Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude" by Kamau Brathwaite from the album "Humboldt Caribbean Lit". On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Non-Music, Spoken Word, Poetry.

"Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude" is performed by Kamau Brathwaite. from the album "Humboldt Caribbean Lit" This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude", explore more songs by Kamau Brathwaite using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

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Frequently asked questions

"Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude" is credited to Kamau Brathwaite. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

"Didn’t He Ramble / Prelude" appears on "Humboldt Caribbean Lit".

Visit the Kamau Brathwaite artist page at /artist/kamau-brathwaite for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.