Can't Let It Go

I been growing up with choirs Souls of black folk i been growing up inspired I thought we had the answers We was singing the Negro National Anthem-the chorus and the vamping Sometimes 3-4 hours But it went like minutes with that feeling in the crowd Everybody known by they first name You gon stay loyal by your church name Keep up with suit game, like we stepping out Boy you better preach that, girl you better shout Reading from the King James, with a different language Brand new member but you never met a stranger Find me by the drum set nodding to the pocket Momma hit that high note- we up like a rocket The devil can't stay round here Trouble don't last always round here I can't let it go (Take-Take me to that old time church) But trouble find a way There's a midnight hour for every brighter day Lemme light the way-I'm show you tears Hope that when you seen them, I'm show you mirrors We was kids but we could see the cracks Like when you lost 40 pounds wrestling with crack I saw you take money from the widow to furnish up your windows Sleeping with the widow, stepping on a primrose I ain't have no offering till you told me God wanted more So been sleeping on the floor As I advanced, so did older women's compliments Dropping hints like, come give your aunt a kiss I saw your deacons spitting game to my moms Then you taught my dad just stay faithful to God I been growing up with choirs-gay men leading songs Treated like family until they started talking I saw this too often-now it's feeling awkward Cuz it's still a part of me the beauty and the cautions Ain't no on and off switch wouldn't change those times Something deep inside me come alive How I got over, how I got over this How can I open this chapter and close it blessed Cuz it been tried and true-people complex on some real Talk about Christ paid debts on some real That old time religion put some watchmen on the wall The mothers of the church know he hear them when they call I'm speaking on some trauma to triumph To tryna iron out complexity while still preserving honor It's homage-the black struggle is tradition The black church showed me how to live it And I can't let it go, gotta hold on Through all of the pain we see, we gotta go on Climbing the rough side-we gon get home We gon make it there-cuz we not alone