"King Henry IV" Gil Scott-Heron

The Very rare poem of Gil Scott-Heron which may had been published in the late 70´s or the early 80´s, i´m not sure at all because I found it in the collection of Scott-Heron´s poetry “Now and Then” (Canongate Books, 2010).

The subject is the most deadly disease. HIV. In this poem GSH´s called it "King Henry IV" and his message is very comprehensible.

!!! Do not bow down before the King !!!












"King Henry IV" Gil Scott-Heron


The King is alive and twenty millions strong
And long before he ever ascended to the throne
He was made fun of, a source of great humor
His domination over neighborhoods was nothing but a rumor
Back when the King´s name was so rarely spoke
And the ten million disciples mentioned by some folks 
Was called exaggerated and treated like a joke
They didn´t understand that the monster had woke
But the King could instantly demonstrate
That he wasn´t no laughing matter
Blow folks away so quickly it would demonstrate
Nobody and nothing does it better
Now we´re talking about total finesse
That´s when you know you´re dealing with the best
There ain´t even been one whisper of force
Over the entire kingdom of Henry IV.

The awful thing about it is there ain´t nothing you can do Guard all your 
door and windows and the King can still
rob you
Oh, No! ain´t talking about the 60´s, not that f´n far back
In the ´80s with folks falling into and between the cracks
And talking about being right in the center of the news
But the King don´t never give no interviews
And the reporters was lined up. The King was raising hell
around here
And then information just dried up and the King seemed to
disappear
Gone so quickly you might have just an impression
Am I certain of my facts now of course.
I know almost all there is to know about King Henry IV
What it left on the ghetto streets was an incorrect
understanding
About the ways he caught on and how rapidly he was 
expanding 


The reason i felt black kids was headed for a fall
Was the day I read this poem painted in a bathroom stall:
Fuck a man in the butt and you could get it for sure
Pass a dope needle around and there wasn´t no cure
The kids believed if you wasn´t gay and didn´t shoot dope
You was home free, take the day off and float
But what would always make the King seem so tough
Is that he get in and then take five years to show back up
And you can go scream at them until you get hoarse
But they don´t understand and about King Henry IV

(There was only Public Enemy with really decent shit to say
And maybe Run DMC had it with "Walk This Way"
15 years ago? Hell it wasn´t even ten
Which only goes to show how fast the King is moving in)

He was no more than a whisper at gay after-hour spots
If there are no bloodless revolution why hadn´t he fired a 
shot?
Sunday mornings from the pulpit he was blamed on
promiscuity
More confusing newspaper bullshit only furthered the 
ambiguity
Preacher´s became obsessed and called him a message from
above
The creature´s game progressed since nobody knew who the
fuck he was

Completely taking over areas that had never seen royalty
But soon millions on five continents could all pledge their
loyalty

The invisible monarch was steady doing his thing
He never heard folks once saying "Hail to the King!"
But he´s got powers you can´t help but endorse
And the Africans call him King Henry IV

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