Sheep May Safely Graze
By Luke Hansen
I've always lived my life walking the streets of the metropolis
But with the way things are these days it's hard to be an optimist
When trying to get home without getting shot feels like a lottery
And all the local news I hear's about the latest robbery
Now everywhere I go the conversation's getting shallower
The crowds are getting bigger and the streets are getting narrower
And even when I head down roads that seem familiar, I find
I just go round in circles like a Tube train on the Circle Line
I yearn to be where leaves are overhead and grass is underfoot
And being there with no-one else around for miles feels wonderful
But when I try the local park to get a change of scenery
The council's sending people round to pull up all the greenery
My mind's in a haze
I want to find a place
Where the sheep may safely graze
My mates tell me life in the country ain't a Black man's destiny
But that ain't just wrong nowadays, it ain't been true for centuries:
When grazing on the common was the right of every Englishman
The people on the land were maybe Blacker than you think of them
'Cause there were Africans who came and made the English shires their home
Way back before Elizabeth the First was even on the throne
Black villagers and country folk who lived here not in slavery
But free as anyone, and that's the legacy they gave to me
So don't give me a load of grief for having the temerity
To tread upon this soil when I'm *their* living posterity
Ain't my fault if you still believe it's all like it was taught to us
I've realised the truth is more complex than I once thought it was
I've broke out of that daze
Now I'm heading for the place
Where the sheep may safely graze
Man wasn't made to live with concrete rising up on every side
In neighbourhoods where stepping out your front door leaves you terrified,
Be glared at, followed round by cameras, treated disrespectfully
Or barged into by kids absorbed in mobile telephony
So imma leave it all behind, ignore those doubting sentiments,
Forsake the city for somewhere more like my natural element
I'll wish everyone well, hope that my mates can learn their lesson, and
Then set off on my journey into England's green and pleasant land
I've got out of the maze
I'll run for days and days and days
Until I reach the place
Where — at long last — the sheep may safely graze
