Child trafficking trade

(Lord, look down)

(Hear me now)

I’ve got a folder full of proof and signed degrees

A stack of papers showing everywhere I’ve been

I’ve spent a year down on my calloused knees

But they won’t let the healing even begin

Twelve certificates are taped against the door

Anger management and how to be a dad

I scrubbed the grease and bleached the kitchen floor

I gave them every single thing I had

The caseworker won’t answer when I call

She treats my progress like a clever lie

She’s waiting for the moment that I fall

So she can say another cold goodbye

Judge, if you won’t put him back into my arms

Don’t let a total stranger take his name

Don’t leave him out to face the world’s alarms

Or let him carry all this heavy shame

His family is waiting, let him go to them

Don’t sell his childhood for a bonus check

Don’t let the legal tide begin to hem

This weight of money 'round his little neck

I know the market price for every broken home

A federal payout for a child they can move

They want to leave him out there all alone

With nothing left for kin or me to prove

It’s trafficking in suits and shiny shoes

They make their profit when the bond is torn

I’m the one they’ve chosen just to lose

Before the child can even start to mourn

I’m a ghost walking through a hollow house

A shell of a person with nothing left to give

The silence is a scream, I’m quieter than a mouse

I’ve got no reason left to want to live

If he’s not coming back, then let the world just end

I’m sinking in the dirt and mud and rain

There isn't any heart left here to mend

I’m ready now to stop this pulling pain

(Keep him in the bloodline)

(Don't sell him out)

Put him with his kin, Judge

(Read the truth)

I’m disappearing

(I'm gone)

The ink is dry, the system wins

(Lord, have mercy)

I can’t do this anymore

(It's over)

(Mmmmmm)

(Mmmmmm)