I Am Ṣāmid

Intro

Hmm-mm

(Oh-oh)

Ṣāmidīn

Verse 1

Planting silver branches in the reddish silt

Tending trees our fathers' fathers built

The census man is knocking at the door

I am never moving from this floor

Pre-Chorus

No third way to choose

Between the wire and the blues

Choosing neither flight nor silent shame

Staying right here where I take my name

Chorus

This is my ṣumūd

Deeper than the ancient wood

My ṣumūd

Holding where our people stood

Staying put against the heavy rain

Rooted in the belly of the pain

My ṣumūd

Oh my ṣumūd

Verse 2

Pregnant with a future we can see

Gathering the olives for the tea

A thousand bags of salt inside the pipes

Watching as the summer harvest ripens

Pre-Chorus

We refuse the tax

The history they try to relax

Better than a fist is a open heart

But I won't ever tear my life apart

Chorus

This is my ṣumūd

Deeper than the ancient wood

My ṣumūd

Holding where our people stood

Staying put against the heavy rain

Rooted in the belly of the pain

My ṣumūd

Oh my ṣumūd

Bridge

They think we are ghosts passing through

Like the early morning desert dew

But we are the stone

The bone and the marrow alone

Still here

Still here

I am the Ṣāmid

Chorus

This is my ṣumūd

Deeper than the ancient wood

My ṣumūd

Holding where our people stood

Staying put against the heavy rain

Rooted in the belly of the pain

My ṣumūd

Oh my ṣumūd

Post-Chorus

Deeper than the stone

Flesh and blood and bone

I am the Ṣāmid

I am staying home

I am the Ṣāmid

Oh Ṣāmidīn

Oh-oh ṣumūd