Pa'lante

Oh, I just wanna go to work
And get back home, and be something
I just wanna fall and lie
And do my time, and be something

Well I just wanna prove my worth
On the planet Earth, and be, something
I just wanna fall in love
Not fuck it up, and feel something

Well lately, don’t understand what I am
Treated as a fool
Not quite a woman or a man
Well I don’t know

I guess I don’t understand the plan
Colonized, and hypnotized, be something
Sterilized, dehumanized, be something
Well take your pay
And stay out the way, be something
Ah, do your best
But fuck the rest, be something

Well lately, it’s been mighty hard to see
Just searching for my lost humanity
I look for you, my friend
But do you look for me?

Lately I’m not too afraid, to die
I wanna leave it all behind
I think about it sometimes
Lately all my time’s been movin’ slow
I don’t know where I’m gonna go
Just give me time, I’ll know

Oh, any day now
Oh, any day now
I will come along
Oh, any day now
Oh, any day now
I will come along
I will come along

Dead Puerto Ricans, who never knew they were Puerto Ricans
Who never took a coffee break from the 10th commandment
To kill, kill, kill

The landlords of their cracked skulls
And communicate with their Latin souls
Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Olga, Manuel
From the nervous breakdown streets
Where the mice live like millionaires
And the people do not live at all

From el barrio to Arecibo, ¡pa’lante!
From Marble Hill to the ghost of Emmett Till, ¡pa’lante!
To Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Manuel, ¡pa’lante!
To all who came before, we say, ¡pa’lante!
To my mother and my father, I say, ¡pa’lante!

To Julia, and Sylvia, ¡pa’lante!
To all who had to hide, I say, ¡pa’lante!
To all who lost their pride, I say, ¡pa’lante!
To all who had to survive, I say, ¡pa’lante!
To my brothers, and my sisters, I say, ¡pa’lante!

¡Pa’lante!
¡Pa’lante!
To all came before, we say, ¡pa’lante!