Once Love Circulated

Relax...
The birds know the song; they've been practicing this long
The sun peeks and plays during these idling days
Trees bend and applaud the blues from the wind's jaws
From way down the street good times call to my feet

And the youngblood would travel these neighborhood veins

Gran'dad and Gran'ma, the yard and the kitchen
Uncles and 'Unties and hundreds of children
And babies stay babies, no hope of escape
Hearts bonded; if not, held together with tape
Now, I grab my jacket without being told
And if I don't grab it, it means I'm not cold
I need some fresh air so I leave from the stable
This family barely has room at the table

So the youngblood would travel these neighborhood veins

One day, all the cribs are passed on to the children
I wake up alone in my mother's old building
She rests with her mother and father near Millen
The summer's so hot; how the tempers have flared
A stench of a hot breeze as laundry is aired
Once love circulated; once nobody cared
The yard and the kitchen my aunt now attends
And everyone's moved, both the family and friends
I pray they forgive, but I fear they just lend
A youngblood once traveled these neighborhood veins
But now he just visits to see what became
And each time he comes back, it's never the same

There's no blood to travel these neighborhood veins