Common - Retrospect For Life Lyrics
[featuring lauryn hill]Yo, we gotta start respectin life more yallYou look at your brother man you gotta see yourselfGotta see the God within himBrothers gettin changed real quick over nothinWe losin too many of oursGotta recreate yallYo, check itKnowin you the best part of life, do I have the right to take yoursCause I created you, irresponsiblySubconciously knowin the act I was a part ofThe start of somethin, Im not ready to bring into the worldHad myself believin I was sterileI look into mothers stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girlTurnin this womans womb into a tombBut she and I agree, a seed we dont needYou wouldve been much more than a mouth to feedBut someone, I woulda fed this information I readTo someone, my life for you I woulda had to leaveInstead I lead you to deathIm sorry for takin your first breath, first step, and first cryBut I wasnt prepared mentally nor financiallyHavin a child shouldnt have to bring out the man in mePlus I wanted you to be raised within a familyI dont wanna, go through the drama of havin a babys mommaWeekend visits and buyin js aint gon make me a fatherFor a while bearing a child is somethin I never wanted to doFor me to live forever I can only do that through youNerve I got to talk about them niggaz with a gunMust have really thought I was God to take the life of my sonI could have sacrificed goin outTo think my homies who did it I used to joke about, from now onIma use self control instead of birth controlCause $315 aint worth your soul$315 aint worth your soul$315 aint worth it[lauryn hill (two layers of vocals, same words)]I, never dreamed youd leave, in summerYou said you would be here when it rained[common] yoWhy didnt you staySeeing you as a present and a gift in itselfYou had our child in you, I probably never feel what you feltBut you dealt with it like the strong black woman you areThrough our trials and tribulations, childs eliminationAn intergration of thoughts I feel about the situationBack and forth my feelings was pacinHappy deep down but not joyed enough to have itBut even thats a lie in less than two weeks, we was back at itIs this unprotected love or safe to say its lustBustin, more than the sweat in somebody you trustOr is it that we dont trust each other enoughAnd believe, havin this childll make us have to stay togetherGirl I want you in my life cause you have made it betterThinkin we all in love cause we can spend a day togetherWe talkin spendin the rest of our livesIts too many black women that can say they mothersBut cant say that they wivesI wouldnt chose any other to mother my understandingBut I want our parenthood to come from planningIts so much in my life thats undoneWe gotta see eye to eye, about family, before we can become oneIf you had decided to have it the situation I wouldnt run fromBut Im walkin, findin myself in my godSo I can, discipline my son with my writinNot have a judge tellin me how and when to raise my seedThough his death was at our greed, with no one else to blameI had a book of afrikan names, case our minds changedYou say your period hasnt came, and lately Ive been sleepySo quit smokin the weed and the beadies and lets have this boy[lauryn hill]I, never dreamed youd leave in summerYou said you would be here when it rainedYou said you would be here when it rainedOhh i, never dreamed youd leave in summerNow the situations made things changeThings changeWhy, didnt you stayWhy didnt you stay...I, never dreamed youd leave, in summerIn summerYou said you would be here when, it rainedWhen it rained, it rainedOhhhohh i, never dreamed, youd leave in summerYou said you wouldnt leaveNow the situations made things changeThings change, why didnt you stay?Stay, stay stay stay stay stay stayMmmmm, stayyyUh-uhOhh why didnt you stay..
