Lion

Singing songs of Zion,

Jamaica’s lion

With his

Shaggy, dreadlocked mane

Touched the world.

He told of One Love

Sang a Redemption Song

Dreamed of an Exodus

Of his fellow Buffalo Soldiers.

 

One love

One heart -

Let’s get together

And feel alright.

 

He still sang of peace

Even when they tried to blow him to pieces

He asked us,

“Could you be loved?”

Told us to stand up for our rights

And turned the whole world

Into a punky reggae party…

 

Have you ever felt him sing?

How his music shakes the soul,

How it makes you lose control?

How his lyrics touch your heart,

Every chord ringing with sincerity

His voice compelling, pleading,

Wailing -

 

Did you ever see him move?

So immersed in the music

So absorbed in his art

That neither bullets, nor tear gas

Could tear them apart?

Then you will know why they loved him,

Why they loved him so.

 

He said, “Dem dreadlock, dem rasta for I

Jah Ras Tafari -”

His songs reverberated

With his unshakable belief

But Death, the Inexorable

Cuts a man down in his prime

Death, the Inescapable

Cuts a man before his time

Took the mighty lion

And choked his joy with pain

Choked his body with cancers

And tore out the natty mane…

 

He said, ‘No Woman, No Cry’

He was just leaving Babylon, and

Going to his fatherland.

Now the mighty lion

Roars in Zion.