[Verse 1]
I keep the names inside my chest
Like folded notes I can't unfold
A morning split, a world displaced
And empty chairs left in the cold
[Pre-Chorus]
I hear the questions no one owns
I feel the anger rise
But every face beneath the smoke
Still had a life, still had a life
[Chorus]
I won't forget the ones who fell
Their ordinary days cut short
I carry sorrow like a bell
That sounds above the roar of war
I am not ready to release
The hands that brought that morning down
But I will guard the lives we lost
And keep their memory unbowed
[Verse 2]
A photograph, a coffee cup
A coat still waiting by the door
Small pieces of a vanished life
That make the silence hurt much more
[Pre-Chorus]
The flags are raised, the engines turn
The speeches fill the air
But grief does not become less true
Because the drums are there
[Chorus]
I won't forget the ones who fell
Their ordinary days cut short
I carry sorrow like a bell
That sounds above the roar of war
I am not ready to release
The hands that brought that morning down
But I will guard the lives we lost
And keep their memory unbowed
[Bridge]
Anger is fire in my hands
Forgiveness is a road unseen
I won't confuse a softer heart
With saying what was done was clean
Somewhere beyond this wounded ground
May mercy find a place to start
Not for the deed, not for the blame
But so the dead don't own my heart
[Final Chorus]
I won't forget the ones who fell
Their names are written into dawn
I carry sorrow, I carry rage
And still I choose to carry on
I am not ready to release
The pain that keeps their stories found
I will remember, I will grieve
And lay my weapons down
[Outro]
For every life that left too soon
For every family changed forever
We remember
We grieve
We endure