I have forgotten how to be stone
I walk the street, but I am not alone
My skin is a sieve, it lets the world in
I feel where you end, and where I begin
To be quiet is not to be at peace
It’s holding my breath so the tearing will cease
I am too porous
I am too wide
There is nowhere left for my spirit to hide
And oh, the cold is rising to the top
The worst of the worst, they never stop
They swallowed the ice, now they breathe it out
Building a silence out of a shout
They only love faces that look like their own
While the rest of us weep, soft against stone
I see the uniforms
I see the cage
I feel the grief
I swallow the rage
How do they cut the nerve to the heart?
Tearing the world into parts, into parts
If they don't know your name, you don't exist
Just a vapor to wave away with a fist
Compassion is contraband, kindness is weak
They step on the flower to silence the meek
And oh, the cold is rising to the top
The worst of the worst, they never stop
They swallowed the ice, now they breathe it out
Building a silence out of a shout
They only love faces that look like their own
While the rest of us weep, soft against stone
I want to scream, but I’m underwater
For every lost son, for every lost daughter
The hollowest vessels are steering the ship
With a cruel command and a curled upper lip
I am helpless to fight with hands made of rain
But I’d rather be water than not feel pain
So let me bleed, let me feel it all
I will not harden behind their wall
In a world of iron, sharp and severe
It is a rebellion just to shed a tear
Just to shed a tear
Soft against stone