Katrina Boguski
Oh Liberia
I too feel your pain,
Different story but the same refrain
Right here, right next to you
Oh Liberia
I saw your house and it set me free,
No roof and growing trees
Some might see a hanging post
But I met up with another ghost
Two small boys and a chimpanzee,
Oh you set me free,
You seemed so much like me
You showed me too what I had been
You reminded me what I had seen
Oh you set me free,
You seemed so much like me
Some have dogs and some have cats
Some have chimps but we all have pets
Right here, right next to you
Oh what could I do?
Photos took me to my own home,
The one where I had grown
My home lost its roof like yours
We all live through different wars
The mad man came to my home too,
Right here, right next to you
Oh Liberia
Your summer is hot my winter is cold;
When Winters came the roof didn’t hold!
Oh Liberia
Oh Liberia Liberia
Winters came and he killed my cat
For years I couldn’t go back
Different blood; different ground
Same heart beating the same sad sound
Oh Liberia
Oh what can one child do?
The naked truth and the naked lie,
Right here, right next to you
Oh Liberia
Right here, right next to you
Oh, you set me free
When I discovered you were just like me
Right here, right next to you
Oh Liberia
Right here, right next to you
They can take my house
And destroy my home,
They can burn my photos
And can break my bones
Right here right next to you
Oh what could we do?
One’s shots taken with different eyes
More important than he realized
Other shots drunken with blood shot eyes
So destructive and he agonized
Some sad stories just harmonize
Some worlds closer when the sun does rise
War shots fired from a different gun
Fly out faster than a child can run
Oh Liberia
Different bars in the same big zoo
Your sun shines the whole day through
We place eyes between the rails
The same big prison just different jails
Different cells the same big block
Different times the same big clock
Different skin some white some black
Oh we all go back
Two cells at the very start
Same sad sorrow in a different heart
Winters came and damage did
Oh we were only kids
Oh Liberia
Oh to me, to you?
He’d kill for nothing; he’d kill for more
Same devil fighting in a different war
Same child crying in a different room
Same child lying in a different tomb
The same bad sorrow the bad fight
The same bad dream just a different night
Some burn photos, some a bridge
Same young soldier just a different badge
Same bad baggage just a different bag
Same old journey just a different leg
Same young traveller with a different pack
Oh we all go back
All of us get cast adrift
Same kid jumping off a different cliff
I anchor you, you anchor me
Same raft floating in a different sea
I see your house and I see those trees
I smell the surf I feel the breeze
Right here right next to me
Oh you set me free
Same old ruins in the same old spot
Oh we have grown a lot
We grew up and the trees grew tall
Oh I could hear your call
Oh, Oh Liberia
Monkey see, and monkey do
Monkey tree grew at my ruins too
Same old puzzle the same old plot
Same old story I had forgot
Same old shadow was chasing me
Oh Liberia
No roof means the stars shine in
Some day soon we might begin
Seeing things that still could be
Living dreams that wake in me
Hanging in a jungle with a chimpanzee
Oh Liberia
Some foundations are set in stone
Oh Liberia
Some old photos just can’t be torn
Oh Liberia
Some old memories just can’t get burned
Oh Liberia
Some old lessons can still be learned
Oh, Oh Liberia
Some old secrets just can’t be told
Oh Liberia
Some old Winters are still too cold
Some cats don’t get all nine lives
Some dads see through different eyes
Some kids die and some kids live
Some folks take and some folks give
Oh Liberia
Oh what could you be? Oh Liberia
Freedom starts with a different gaze
Living comes in different ways
Writing stories on a different page
Waking up in a novel age
Oh Liberia
Oh what could you be?
Oh Liberia
The only difference between death and life
The only difference between peace and strife
Between being kept and being free
And the kind of being that we might be
It’s what we see in a different place
Within the space between the bars,
Between the homes with only stars
Between the worlds, between the wars
Between the worlds between the words
Between the notes
Between the hopes
Oh Liberia
See no evil only peace
Boat still drifting in a far off sea
See the smile upon my face
Walk a mile in a tiny space
Between the meaning in the lines
Between the memories in our minds
Between the space between you to me
Chimp still swinging in a jungle tree
