[Verse 2: Lauryn Hill]
Why every✦ Indian✦ wanna✦ be the chief?
Feed a man 'til he full and he still want beef
Give me grief, try to tief off my piece
Why for you to increase,✦ I must decrease?✦
If I treat you kindly,✦ does it mean that I'm weak?
You hear me speak and think I won't take it to the streets
I know enough cats that don't turn the other✦ cheek
But I try to keep it civilized, like Menelik
And other✦ African czars, observing stars with war scars
Get yours in this capitalistic system✦
So many✦ caught or got bought you can't list them
How you gon' idolize the missing? To survive✦ is to stay alive✦ in the face of opposition✦
Even✦ when they coming,✦ gunning, I stand position✦
L known the mission✦ since conception✦
Let's free the people from deception✦
If you looking for the answers, then you gotta✦ ask the questions
And when I let go, my voice echoes✦ through the ghetto✦
Sick of men trying to pull strings like Geppetto
Why black people always be the ones✦ to settle?
March through these streets like Soweto,✦ uhh
[Bridge: Lauryn Hill]
Like Cain and Abel, Caesar✦ and Brutus✦
Jesus✦ and Judas, backstabbers do this
[Chorus: Lauryn Hill]
Forgive✦ them, Father,✦ for
They know not what they do
Forgive✦ them, Father,✦ for
They know not what they do
[Verse 3: Lauryn Hill]
It took me a little while to discover
Wolves✦ in sheep coats who pretend to be lovers
Men who lack conscience will even✦ lie to themselves,✦ to themselves✦
A friend once said, and I found to be true
That everyday people, they lie to God too
So, what makes✦ you think, that they won't lie to you?
[Chorus: Lauryn Hill & Shelly Thunder]
Forgive✦ them, Father,✦ for
They know not what they do (Forgive✦ them, forgive✦ them)
Forgive✦ them, Father,✦ for
They know not what they do (Forgive✦ them, forgive✦ them)
[Verse 4: Shelly Thunder & Lauryn Hill]
Gwan like dem love you, while dem rip you to shreds
Trample pon yuh heart, and leff you fi dead
Dem a yuh friend, who you depend✦ pon, from way back when
([?] to grace)
But if you, gi' dem yuh back, then you must meet yuh end
Dem nuh know what dem do do
(Who's gonna✦ be the one?)
Dem nuh know what dem do do
(Gotta✦ be the one to say)
Dem nuh know, dem nuh know, dem nuh know, dem nuh know
Dem nuh know what dem do do
(Oh, yeah, oh)
[Outro: Lauryn Hill]
(Forgive✦ them, Father,✦ forgive✦ them, Father...)✦
[Skit: Teacher, Boy & Girl]
What do you think?
It's just happenin', like things just become✦ annoying and then like twenty-four-seven thinkin'✦ about✦ the girl and stuff like that and then you like— if you do somethin' wrong, you like, oh, does she hate me, right? You wanna✦ know what they're thinkin'✦
Yeah, yeah
So, what— what she feels— hold! What she feels is important to you?
Right
Huh? Why?
Because... I want her to still love me, but, you know, but— see, but, I know she still like me 'cause, you know, a little eye contact. 'Cause I don't want her no more, but—
Alright, you talkin'✦ 'bout somebody,✦ you love somebody✦