Common - Retrospect For Life lyrics

[featuring lauryn hill] Yo, we gotta start respectin life more y'all You look at your brother man you gotta see yourself Gotta see the god within him Brothers gettin changed real quick over nothin We losin too many of ours Gotta recreate y'all Yo, check it Knowin you the best part of life, do i have the right to take yours Cause i created you, irresponsibly Subconciously knowin the act i was a part of The start of somethin, i'm not ready to bring into the world Had myself believin i was sterile I look into mother's stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl Turnin this woman's womb into a tomb But she and i agree, a seed we don't need You would've been much more than a mouth to feed But someone, i woulda fed this information i read To someone, my life for you i woulda had to leave Instead i lead you to d**h I'm sorry for takin your first breath, first step, and first cry But i wasn't prepared mentally nor financially Havin a child shouldn't have to bring out the man in me Plus i wanted you to be raised within a family I don't wanna, go through the drama of havin a baby's momma Weekend visits and buyin j's ain't gon' make me a father For a while bearing a child is somethin i never wanted to do For me to live forever i can only do that through you Nerve i got to talk about them n***az with a gun Must have really thought i was god to take the life of my son I could have sacrificed goin out To think my homies who did it i used to joke about, from now on I'ma use self control instead of birth control Cause $315 ain't worth your soul $315 ain't worth your soul $315 ain't worth it [lauryn hill (two layers of vocals, same words)] I, never dreamed you'd leave, in summer You said you would be here when it rained [common] yo Why didn't you stay Seeing you as a present and a gift in itself You had our child in you, i probably never feel what you felt But you dealt with it like the strong black woman you are Through our trials and tribulations, child's elimination An intergration of thoughts i feel about the situation Back and forth my feelings was pacin Happy deep down but not joyed enough to have it But even that's a lie in less than two weeks, we was back at it Is this unprotected love or safe to say it's lust Bustin, more than the sweat in somebody you trust Or is it that we don't trust each other enough And believe, havin this child'll make us have to stay together Girl i want you in my life cause you have made it better Thinkin we all in love cause we can spend a day together We talkin spendin the rest of our lives It's too many black women that can say they mothers But can't say that they wives I wouldn't chose any other to mother my understanding But i want our parenthood to come from planning It's so much in my life that's undone We gotta see eye to eye, about family, before we can become one If you had decided to have it the situation i wouldn't run from But i'm walkin, findin myself in my god So i can, discipline my son with my writin Not have a judge tellin me how and when to raise my seed Though his d**h was at our greed, with no one else to blame I had a book of afrikan names, case our minds changed You say your period hasn't came, and lately i've been sleepy So quit smokin the weed and the beadies and let's have this boy [lauryn hill] I, never dreamed you'd leave in summer You said you would be here when it rained You said you would be here when it rained Ohh i, never dreamed you'd leave in summer Now the situation's made things change Things change Why, didn't you stay Why didn't you stay... I, never dreamed you'd leave, in summer In summer You said you would be here when, it rained When it rained, it rained Ohhhohh i, never dreamed, you'd leave in summer You said you wouldn't leave Now the situation's made things change Things change, why didn't you stay? Stay, stay stay stay stay stay stay Mmmmm, stayyy Uh-uh Ohh why didn't you stay..