Asylum

[Verse 1] I think Mengistu Haile Mariam is my neighbor Whoever it is moved in and put an automated gate up Repainted brick walls atop which now cameras rotated By eight, the place dark, one light burn later Razor wire like a slinky Rumor is parcel bomb took the secretary right eye and pinky Evenings, he take a snifter of whisky on the veranda I wonder what he's thinking In the morning, the maid brings coffee from the kitchen Some nights strange music plays, I lay in bed and listen Downstairs I hear my mother breaking dishes, my father trippin' It's been quite bad lately, high tension Galvanized steel security fencin' To get through the day, give myself a mission Anything what get me out the house a blessin' His bodyguard chews khat, spits black in the rhododendron Blacked out Range rumble when he start the engine Avocado tree hang over the property line I watch from as high as I can climb The dog looks up and whines, the hills are alive with land mines I live in my mind Not sure what I'm looking for, but I'll know when I find My mother sent the gardener to look for me, but the sky is a great place to hide [Chorus] Never told the truth in your life? Can't start now Ever so slowly, slowly locked up in your own house Never told the truth in your life? Can't start now Ever so slowly, slowly locked up in your own house [Verse 2] The guests start having doubts, the host nowhere to be found It's ghosts in the building's bones, so many skeletons in the ground When everything collapse, he just melt into the crowd Suitcase packed, melted down the crown But a haven's only safe as long as they want you around Tomorrow it's no tellin' Hollow when you done sellin' [Outro] You see how well they treat me? My own courtyard for private strolls. And in my chalet, every possible amenity, not to mention the occasional night visitors I must confess kabiyesi, this detention seems to look well on you But, so does captivity look well on a lamb we are fattening up for the feast. Or, perhaps as you say, on a wife we treat with special favor because she is going to bear us a child. What happens when the great day comes and there is only a calabash under the wrapper