Woke up to sirens echoing off the TV glow,
Another anchor choking on words they already know,
Mama says, “Turn it off, it’s too early for pain,”
But the world don’t care much about timing these days.
There’s a flag on the porch and a cross on the wall,
Both asking questions neither answers at all,
We say “God bless” like it’s a shield from the truth,
But blessings feel thin when the bullets cut through.
Feels like we’re tired but too proud to rest,
Digging our heels in, beating our chests,
Calling it strength just to cover our fear,
While the cracks in the ground keep widening here.
There’s a fire in the streets and a crack in the sky,
Everybody’s screaming, nobody asking why,
We’re picking our sides like it’s win or you lose,
Trading compassion for headlines and views,
But I still believe, through the smoke and the bleeding,
That love’s still louder than all of this grieving,
Yeah, the world’s hurting bad, but my God, it’s still breathing.
I know a kid who learned to duck before pray,
Learned the sound of a gun before “how was your day,”
I know a soldier with a stare that won’t blink,
Still fighting a war he’s afraid to rethink.
We light candles after, we post and we cry,
Say “never again,” then we let it slide by,
We’re real good at mourning, real bad at change,
Letting history bleed out page after page.
There’s a fire in the streets and a crack in the sky,
Everybody’s talking, nobody listening twice,
We call it survival, we call it our rights,
While burying kids just to prove we’re right,
But I still believe, even when I’m doubting,
There’s more good hearts than the hate that surrounds them,
Yeah, the world’s hurting bad, but it’s still breathing.
We’re raising our voices, lowering ears,
Building our walls out of rumors and fear,
Calling folks enemies we’ve never known,
Just names on a screen, just bones and bones.
My daddy said, “Son, don’t confuse being loud
With being a man or being proud,”
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do
Is sit in the pain and let it move through.
Maybe peace ain’t a headline win,
Maybe it’s checking on your neighbor’s kid,
Maybe it’s saying “I was wrong,”
Or staying when leaving feels easier long gone.
Maybe love don’t look like a flag or a fist,
Maybe it’s mercy we’re learning to miss,
Maybe the fix ain’t quick or clean,
But it starts with seeing what we’ve been.
There’s a fire in the streets, but there’s light in the dark,
In the way strangers pray, in the way kids still start
Believing tomorrow could be something kind,
If we’d loosen our grip on being right all the time,
And I still believe, call me weak or misleading,
That hope’s worth holding, that healing’s worth bleeding,
Yeah, the world’s hurting bad, but it’s still breathing.
So I’ll hold my people close, say their names slow,
Try to leave more love than scars when I go,
If this life’s a fight, I ain’t quitting believing,
Long as this old world’s still breathing.
