One drum A Masquerade rhythm floating over an evergreen Isle Paran holding forth From Chances to the edge of a choppy black sand sea One drum The booming heart of a sordid story Continent to rock Tropic to tropic Sunrise to sundown Journey The circle was a triangle of untold misery The fruits and the spoils of Systematic brutality One drum Paran holding forth Many voices One word Slavery
One drum Licks Searing Licks Negro flesh tearing Licks One drum That is the soulful sounds of my people wailing Under duress and toiling Licks Beneath a blazing colonial sun The forgotten Names Faces Places No judge No jury No court One drum Paran holding forth
The past is chasing the future Through an unnamed Ghaut The tracks of their tears From the base of a weather-beaten Tamarind tree A specter rose up and spoke to me Son of my son Emancipation was a partially covered sign They freed our limbs and left the shackles On the children's minds The tracks of their tears A father down on two bruised knees Raining on deaf ears My mother's desperate pleas The tracks of their tears One drum Rising and dipping outside the box The beat goes on And on And on...
One drum Mysterious and shaded Lessons from history Paran holding forth Hope and resiliency The stolen The caged and the sold One drum One drum
