[Verse 1]
Boots sink in the red sand
Dog tag clinks on a shaking hand
Orders scream through the cracked comms
Heartbeat louder than the bombs
Shadows rush in a ruined hall
Face to face
I feel him fall
Steel in ribs
Fingers on his throat
Warmth climbs up my camo coat
[Chorus]
Bloody hands
I can’t wash them in the desert
They just stain
Every prayer I try to say
Hold the line
While I’m holding on to a promise
If I make it back alive
Will you still take my bloody hands?
[Verse 2]
Rifle jams in the doorway
So close I taste his last name
Teeth grind
Knuckles split skin
I hear my own voice
Not his scream
Picture of you in my chest rig
Smile cut out by a bullet nick
I whisper “soon” through a broken mask
While I choke a stranger’s last
[Chorus]
Bloody hands
I can’t wash them in the desert
They just stain
Every prayer I try to say
Hold the line
While I’m holding on to a promise
If I make it back alive
Will you still take my bloody hands?
[Bridge]
[Breakdown hits
Tempo drops]
If this is what “hero” means
Ripping through another’s dreams
Will you look me in the eyes
When I see your face
Not mine?
I count the dead instead of sleep
Every name a cut too deep
If I crawl back from this land
Can you hold these shaking hands? (hey!)
[Chorus]
Bloody hands
I can’t wash them in the desert
They just stain
Every prayer I try to say
Hold the line
While I’m holding on to a promise
If I make it back alive
Will you still take my bloody hands?
[Outro]
Boots off by the front door
Keys hit the kitchen drawer
You run to me
I can’t stand
You just wrap up my bloody hands