No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

by Richie Havens



Step out in the night

When you get lonely.

Listen for the sounds

City ears don't hear.

I know your cross is getting

Heavier with every step,

But I know a man

Who's walked miles for you.



Stop! Stay the way you are,

Take a look at yourself,

Take a good look at yourself.

Can't turn to Mama

'Cause she'd only tell ya she

told ya so --

That some of us are still learnin'

That the real trick to life

we all know.



Light flashed today

At the dawnin',

Daytime, Nighttime

We still don't see.

Why must we wait

Until mornin'

To wake up and be

Wake up and be.



Now you and I both know

There's no such thing as up and down,

And even when your problems

Got you goin' around and round

Gotta talk like a man to Papa

'Cause he don't understand

that other stuff.

Since we're part of the cross

he's been carryin' --

I think our end has been draggin'

Long enough.





All right, all right,

All right, all right, all right,

Pick it up, pick it up,

Pick it up, pick it up!



Transcribed from an article on Richie Haven's poetry by rsk@ecn.purdue.edu