[Intro – low, reflective]
Yeah…
Leaky shoes, cold mornings…
Still breathing though.
[Verse 1]
They told me there’d be a payoff, wait patient in the line,
Not now, not today, just suffer through the grind.
Shoes leaking rainwater, landlord at the door,
Knuckles like thunder, echo through the floor.
“Later,” they whisper, “your reward’s in the sky,”
While they counting my hours, watching my youth pass by.
Soft chairs upstairs, soft lies in the air,
I’m down here choking on recycled despair.
Religion at the counter like a bartender sage,
Pouring holy promises to quiet the rage.
“Your hunger is holy, your silence is strong,”
But my stomach keep singing a different song.
[Hook / Chorus]
But I still got hope for a better day,
Through the cracked concrete, I find my way.
Even if the dream feels far away,
I’ma hold my ground, I’ma rise, I’ma stay.
Hope for a better day, better night,
Better chance, better break, better fight.
Even counterfeit light still shines,
Till I spark my own truth from the dark inside.
[Verse 2]
Bosses with polished smiles, polished shoes that gleam,
Stepping over people like we part of the scene.
Crooked circus spinning, same tricks, new name,
Different year, same hunger, same rigged game.
Heaven as a consolation, glittering escape,
For surviving storms that never should’ve shaped
A life bent sideways, spine tired of the weight,
Arguing with gravity, wrestling with fate.
Cold room nights, no music, just doubt,
Dreams feel expensive when the hope runs out.
But something in my chest still beating that drum,
Saying “Don’t freeze now — your time gon’ come.”
[Hook / Chorus]
Yeah I still got hope for a better day,
Even when the system say “know your place.”
Even when the mirror tired of my face,
I see fire flicker I refuse to waste.
Hope for a better day, I believe,
Not in fairy tales they hand to me.
But in breath, in scars, in what I see,
In the fight to carve out dignity.
[Bridge – rising energy]
Maybe hope ain’t heaven, maybe hope is now,
Maybe hope’s that voice saying “Don’t bow.”
Maybe hope’s the crack where the light gets through,
Maybe hope’s the war just to stay you.
[Verse 3]
Yeah, hope hurts sometimes, cuts deep, runs slow,
But none at all? That’s a colder road.
So I carry that spark like a stolen flame,
Through the rain, through the doubt, through the blame.
They can keep their towers, their illusions, their throne,
I’m building something real from the dust I’ve known.
Leaky shoes still walking, yeah the grind still tough,
But my voice, my will — that’s enough.
[Final Hook / Outro]
Hope for a better day, say it loud,
For the bent, the broke, the lost, the proud.
From the bottom floors to above the clouds,
We still standing up, we still unbowed.
Hope for a better day…
Not someday —
But starting right here,
Starting today.
DonaldFritsche
