Redemption (Lemonade Poem, Part 11)

[Poem]

[BEYONCÉ]:

Take one pint of water, add a half pound of sugar, the juice of eight lemons the zest of half lemon

Pour the water from one jug, then into the other, several times

Strain through a clean napkin

Grandmother, the alchemist

You spun gold out of this hard life

Conjured beauty from the things left behind

Found healing where it did not live

Discovered the antidote in your own kitchen

Broke the curse with your own two hands

You passed these instructions down to your daughter

Who then passed it down to her daughter

[HATTIE]:

I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up

I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.

[BEYONCÉ]:

My grandma said “nothing real can be threatened”

True love brought salvation back into me

With every tear came redemption

And my torturer became my remedy

So we're gonna heal, we're gonna start again

You've brought the orchestra

Synchronised swimmers, you are the magician

Pull me back together again the way you cut me in half

Make the woman in doubt disappear

Pull the sorrow from between my legs like silk,

Knot after knot after knot

The audience applauds

But we can't hear them