You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take

Hear the call but don’t phone it in
For crones or for omens
We’re riding out here like Rohan
Diogenes but got hope; “behold a man”
Or Artemis me, I’m only fowl when I’m floating
Freedom is potent, the future’s in focus

Hear the call but don’t phone it in
For crones or for omens
We’re riding out here like Rohan
Diogenes but got hope; “behold a man”
Or Artemis me, I’m only fowl when I’m floating
Freedom is potent, the future’s in focus

You can’t take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
You can’t take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take

Flesh it out
Save a little a little time
Can’t let them take my eyes off this
Bottom line
Keep it by my side,
Rolling out my best life

Flesh it out
Save a little a little time
Can’t let them take my eyes off this
Bottom line
Keep it by my side,
Rolling out my best life

Make out this storm, and return to the shore where we departed
Holding onto faith, letting go of the past coz it’s distorted
Taking it back everything you’ve stolen while I was starting out
It was all by design, I’ve got the pencil now

And you, you can’t take my energy

You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take

Hear the call but don’t phone it in
For crones or for omens
We’re riding out here like Rohan
Diogenes but got hope; “behold a man”
Or Artemis me, I’m only fowl when I’m floating
Freedom is potent, the future’s in focus

I know exactly who I am. And because I know who I am, I know who you are.
I am the child of the soil and of the sun.
I am the continuation of a song of faith and power that my people have never stopped singing.
I am just one voice.
So even if I quit tomorrow this will never end.
Even if I pause tomorrow, baby there will be another one and another and another one for eternity until this work is finished.

And if we do not sing and speak and march and dance and love, then even the rocks will cry out “justice”.
So whether they have nurtured me by blood or by their vision, I know the path has been paved for us by everyone who has ever taken a risk for their righteousness, is holy.

So I lay my heart at the feet of:
Toni Morrison,
Of Maya Angelou,
Of ODB,
James Baldwin,
Gladys Bentley,
Maurice White,
Aretha Franklin,
Audre Lorde,
Kenneth Kaunda,
Patrice Lumumba,
Tina Turner,
Josephine Baker,
Langston Hughes,
Whitney Houston,
Frantz Fanon,
Roxanne Shanté,
Marsha P Johnson (the ‘P’ stands for ‘pay the hate no mind’).
Bayard Rustin,
Diana Ross,
Thomas Sankara,
Kwame Nkrumah,
Assata Shakur,
Nanny of the Maroons,
Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
Saul Williams,
Ida B Wells,
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture),
Renee Cox,
Julius Nyerere,
Malik El Shabazz,
Angela Davis,
Lydia,
Elijah,
And every preacher, singer, lover, dreamer, survivor and believer who would never allow the odds or the opposition to prevent them from being exactly who they were without shame.
So this is a blessing.
For everyone who has ever said enough was enough.
Nothing will slow you or allow your steps to falter.
You are the head and not the tail. You.
You will bless and heal the very ground you step on.
You will recover. You will recover.
No weapon formed against you will prosper.
No conspiracy will throw you.
No conspiracy will slow you.

And that goes for superstition, bad faith intuition, imposter syndrome, “common sense” traditions, every “obia” and “ism”, cloudy vision; and anybody or anything that’s ever tried to get me (or you) to believe giving up is what you need to do before you’ve even tried.

Your confidence cannot be sacrificed.

And you can’t take my energy.