Elwood

Victorian houses dot these small town streets
Where the water runs down now to feed the city's needs
The high-pressure pumps of the industrial machines
That flooded these valleys in the nineteen teens
I was born and raised on this old plantation
Amidst suburban sprawl real estate and the doc com generation
The Master's house is a museum for the modern gentry
That overlooks the water and overlooks the truth
And travelers come here to this destination
To marvel at the expertise of the carpenter and mason
Architecture and landscape stained
With the fingerprints of the unpaid, chained, abused people, enslaved, our roots
But right there on the side streets of these historic towns
Are the depots of the engineers that helped bring slavery down
Abolitionists. Anti-racist families. Organizers. Freedom fighters
And you can walk the secret paths where the railroad ran
Where my great great grandfather drew a line in the sand
And said bring your dogs, we'll beat the fear, you can follow my feet but they'll beat you there
Cuz that Northern Star of freedom is clear in the sky today
If the price of freedom is the price of life, then ante up cuz you don't live twice
And if you believe in freedom then that's price you pay
And he gambled, with Harriet and Frederick, William Lloyd Garrison and all the other heroes
Oh but these Suburban streets don't like to talk
They a throw a lid upon the past like blanket made of rock
But if you ask the right questions and pick the right locks
You can find clues the Master hid back then
And today I'm holding up the roof of a history worth living it
Resistance to oppression, towards the shining light of freedom
Northbound, real heroes, real people, real stories
Passing it on.