Sage Francis - Tree of Knowledge (spoken word) lyrics

I'm a construct of your world, deep-rooted, polluted and tortured Abused and altered, I just caught you eves dropping Adam's rising to pluck the fruit from off the branch Reaching out to touch your inner-drives Cut me open and count the rings inside to see how long I've been alive Containing forms of records about the types of storms I've weathered Leave a stump for kids to carve initials as long as I'm remembered But lessons go forgotten plus you don't believe a thing Listening to the whispering of my leaves in the wind When the breezes begin you're just concerned with flying kites Till I tangle up your child's play and get you climbing heights Still reluctant to hear me out admiring the sites You have no idea what it was like being nailed to Christ You're swinging from the twigs and limbs that used to hang your siblings Have respect you selfish self-centered sack of man-made buildings I was the original pinnacle but now I'm nothing to you but kindling Tickling my inhibitions of naturally attracting children Who have a funny idea of what forever is I witnessed the first time lips kissed with stripped innocence Not too long after that was I supplying shade For a man caressing silverbacks trying to get laid Monkeying around and now they're all dying of A. I. D. S Government guerilla tactics? That's a farce, I bring the plagues Cancer? That's just icing on the cake, I nurse and feed ya Cause you drained me of my sap with taps of perverse procedure I hold your family background right down to the first amoeba Watched you grow from just crustacean to a land mammal, it hurts to leave ya But I've had enough, and it'll be very relieving Just who do you think supplies the air you're breathing? Humongous oxygen tanks? As if it's all free Constantly wondering where your dogs are at? They're barking up the wrong tree Wanting proof of identification but I existed before fingerprints Cognitive dissonance... I hear chainsaws in the distance If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's there to hear it Does it make a sound? I'll go down quietly but you're feel it Still these sick like thoughts keep eating away at my inside Till I'm nothing but hollowed out hide.. The dead tree's still standing, here comes the hunting-ax of lumberjacks So I attract like lightning when the thunder cracks, I'm under attack So I may finally... stop... stumble... relax...