A Soldier's Dream Lyrics - Mos Def

Mos Def speaking) 

I?m not gon sing a song or nothing. 

Um, what that term they call it post traumatic stress syndrome? That thing that 

Uh, soldiers will get. I think a lot of people get that. It?s like when you 

Experience somethin and uh, it affects you for a long time afterwards. I guess 

Everything works that way. Certain things have more impact than others. 

Sometimes it visits you in your dreams or when you?re quiet or just at peace or 

Trying to be at peace. A lot of soldiers get it. A lot of common people get 

It. A lot of the time common people are soldiers, that?s just the way it works 

Out. 

This is a soldier?s dream 

The other night I was tumbling towards an uneasy sleep 

When I had discovered myself 

Atop the sweet sticky firmament of my dreams. 

Daybreak came and discovered me 

With my fantasies pasted to my face. 

I can't look at you right now. 

"Show me your eyes," she says. 

"Later," he says. "Now, now." "NO!" 

Shame is a prison you know. 

Yeah, well discretion is a fortress 

You?re starin and lookin too closely. 

There?s so much about me that I hide 

That careful eyes will recognize. 

If you look closely you?ll notice 

That the pattern on this soft cloth shirt 

Is made of workin men?s sweat 

And prayin folk?s tears. 

If you look closer you?ll notice 

That this pattern resembles 

Tenement row houses, project high rises, 

Cell block tiers, 

Discontinued stretches of elevated train tracks, 

Slave ship gullies, acres of tombstones. 

If you look closer, you?ll notice 

That this fabric has been carefully blended 

With an advanced new age polymer (oh man, that?s nice) 

To make the fabric lightweight 

Weatherproof, and durable. 

All this to give some sort of posture and dignity 

To a broken body that is a host for scars. 

I am the new landmark. I am the museum of injury. 

Soldiers visit me and admire me quietly, 

Whispering amongst themselves. You're no soldier. 

Your soft bright eyes never have to 

Survey the battlefield, 

Much less its collected relics of which, I am one. 

So, my flesh bullet-ridden remains hidden 

Underneath these soft fabrics 

Which I carefully select 

That stand in for how I used to feel, 

For how I remember feeling, 

For how I dream about feeling, 

For how I feel about you. 

And now your curious fingers want to search 

Beyond this tender armor. 

I can't look at you right now 

(This is my rifle there are many like it but this one is mine) 2x 

Your eyes are too careful, 

Collecting it all arranging it all; 

Surgically, robotically, exactly. 

I can't look at you right now 

But that doesn't matter because 

You can look at me and the longer that 

I don?t return your gaze, 

The harder that your gaze 

Starts to run across my back 

Like a nervous policeman?s hands: 

Brisk, intent, anxious for discovery. 

If discretion is a fortress 

Then you're threatening to destroy it 

By simply standing at the gates 

And refusing to leave. 

I can't look at you right now, 

But you can look at me. Do you see me?