You Never Know

She was on her way to becoming a college graduate

Wouldn't even stop to talk to the average kid

The type of latina I'd sit and contemplate marriage with

**** the horse and carriage **** her love was never for hire

Disciplined intellectual beauty's what I desire
Flyer than Salma Hayek or Jennifer Lopez

Everyone told me kickin' it to her was hopeless

At first I just thought she didn't mess with broke kids
The thug ****** always talking about how they smoke kids

But the rich-sniff-coke kids got no play
"I'm not even interested" is what her body language would say
Everyone around the way gave up trying to get in it
It didn't matter how good your game was she wasn't with it
On the block ******* was jealous but wouldn't admit it

Talk **** and deny to everyone that they did it

'Cause they regretted the long list of ****** that they let hit it
And no one ever gave them **** except McDonald's and did-****
Smoking **** with thoughts of envy whenever they lit it
She spoke intelligently and they bit it always trying to copy
But when they tried to use her vocab they sounded sloppy
She had a style all her own respectful and pure
I was sick in the head for her and there wasn't a cure

[Hook - Jean Grae]

Don't you know that time waits for no man
Not fate it's all planned

I'm blessed just to know you

I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night

Can't find a reason why

God came between you and I
If I had the chance again I'd never let you go
Hold tight to your love 'cause you never know
[Verse 2]
Her eyes are brown and beautiful yet empty and sad

I used to talk to her occasionally and she was glad

That I wasn't just another ***** trying to get in it

So every now and then we'd stop and talk for a minute

I didn't have a gimmick so the minutes turned to hours
On her birthday I gave her a poem with flowers
Then I took her out to dinner after her cousin's baby shower
We talked about power to the people and such

We spent more time together but it was never enough

I never tried to sneak a touch or even cop a feel
I was too interested in keeping it real

Perfectly honest and complete she would always call me "carino"
And never Technique bought me a new book to read every 2 or 3 weeks
Forever changing the expression of my thoughts when I speak
It was because of her I even deaded all of my freaks
She convinced me to stop hangin' out on the streets
To stop robbin' and stealin' from people like you
Instead I took her out to the Apollo and the Bronx Zoo
We sailed del Barrio and the Metropolitan too

Got to the point when I was either with her or my crew
So I decided one day to tell her my feelings was true
I couldn't live without her so I told her facing my fears
But honey's only response was a face full of tears
She could only sob hysterically holding me tight

I tried to speak but she wouldn't stop until I left sight

I felt like a moth who got himself too close to the light
Except I didn't burn I turned cold after that night

[Hook - Jean Grae]
Don't you know that time waits for no man

Not fate it's all planned

I'm blessed just to know you

I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night

Can't find a reason why

God came between you and I
If I had the chance again I'd never let you go

Hold tight to your love 'cause you never know
[Verse 3]
I went on with my life college and my career

Ended up locked up like an animal for a year

Where the C O 's talk to you like they were the overseer

Then I got sent to the hole when my exit was near

At night in my cell I'd close my eyes and I'd see her
Hold her close in my dreams but when I woke she disappeared

Just an empty cell until the state gave me parole in the summer
Came back in tact and on track
But the fact of the matter is I still felt cold
Even after my mother hugged me cryin' at home
My real ****** would catch me thinkin' out of my zone
******' lots of different women but I still felt alone

Relatively well-known around the New York underground

But I kept thinking of her and how we used to be down
The sound of her voice and the beautiful smell of her hair
Though gone physically somehow it was still there
I had to do something because the **** was too much to bear
So I went and visited the building where she used to live
The world looks a lot different after you do a bid
The way your life done changed
While primitive minds (are) still stuck in the same game

Like her cousin who was on the corner slangin' *******

Stepped in the lobby and tapped the button next to her last name
Her mom buzzed me up and hugged me up like a mother ought to
But her facial expression changed when I asked about her daughter
[Hook - Jean Grae]
Don't you know that time waits for no man
Not fate it's all planned
I'm blessed just to know you

I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night

Can't find a reason why

God came between you and I

If I had the chance again I'd never let you go

Hold tight to your love 'cause you never know

[Verse 4]
She told me that there was a note for me that was left behind
She had left it there waiting for such a long time
I was inclined to ask about it but she brought it up first

I saw a tear swelling up in her eye and then she cursed
She told me where the letter was and I started thinking the worst
Reversed my position stepped over and opened the door

And sure enough there was an envelope with my name on the floor
"Nobody loves you more than me carino" is what the letter said
"By the time you get to read this I'll probably be dead

But when you left in '97 a part of me went to Heaven
I thank God at least I got to know what love really was
But it hurt me to see what true love really does
'Cause even though we never made love you were all that there was
It was because I loved you so much that I had to make you leave

You made me doubt the way I thought you made me want to believe
And then I slipped up and I let you get close to me
It was hard to not be openly when people spoke to me
This was not the way I thought my life was supposed to be
Baby don't you see I had a blood transfusion that left me with HIV

Hoped the end exists for me since late in 1993
I died a virgin I wish I could've given myself to you
I cried in the hospital because there was no one else but you
Promise that you'll meet me in paradise inevitably

No matter what I'll keep your love forever with me"

What happened for the rest of the day is still a blur
But I remember wishing that I was dead instead of her
She was buried on August 3rd
The story ends without a sequel
And now you know why Technique don't ******* fall in love with people
Hold the person that you love closely if they're next to you

The one you love not the person that'll simply have *** with you
Appreciate them to the fullest extent and then beyond

'Cause you never really know what you got until it's gone