Ashes in the Morning

The sirens cried before the dawn

Shook the dust from every lawn

Mama’s hands were trembling still

Coffee cold on windowsill

Boots on gravel, orders barked

Names erased, the sky went dark

I was just a kid that day

When they took my friend away

They said it’s for the greater good

But no one here has understood

We’re counting ghosts in the afterglow

Of fires we were told to stoke

Every flag that waves up high

Hides another mother’s cry

You can dress it up in gold

But the truth is never sold

War don’t make a hero’s name

It just teaches loss and blame

Letters came in black and white

Fading ink, a distant fight

“Don’t you worry, I’ll be home”

Words that felt like polished stone

Then the silence stretched for weeks

Echoed louder than the streets

Till a knock came at the door

I knew what it was before

They said he died a noble man

But nobility won’t hold your hand

We’re counting ghosts in the afterglow

Of fires we were told to stoke

Every medal, every lie

Buried with the reasons why

You can sing of victory

But it’s just a eulogy

War don’t end what it begins

It just buries deeper sins

Who decides whose blood is cheap?

Who plants promises we reap?

Lines on maps, drawn in greed

Turn into graves we never need

And the drums keep marching on

Long after the truth is gone

We’re counting ghosts in the afterglow

Still paying debts we didn’t owe

Every child who learns to fear

Grows into the silence here

You can shout it, you can pray

But it won’t wash it away

War don’t write a righteous end

It just breaks what we pretend

So I’ll sing it loud and plain

Through the sorrow, through the pain

Till the guns fall silent someday

And we choose another way.