I don’t know much about politics,
I don’t follow all the rules,
I don’t sit and watch the headlines,
Or debate on evening news.
But I know this land was promised
As a place where all are free,
Yet I hear the quiet breaking
Of that truth in you and me.
I don’t watch the wars unfolding,
Maps and numbers on a screen,
But I know that people’s dying
Not just somewhere, but between.
I don’t know that many people,
But I feel it in the air,
In the silence, in the tension
We are living scared somewhere.
I don’t understand economics,
Stocks or how the money flows,
But I know this land was built by
Hands the history barely shows.
I know we took what wasn’t given,
Ground beneath another’s feet,
And I know the cost still echoes
In the stories we repeat.
I know rivers choke on plastic,
Forests fall and skies turn gray,
Animals and dreams are fading,
Little pieces every day.
I am still a kid, still learning,
Still just trying to understand,
But I know when “no” is spoken,
It should always firmly stand.
People mess up, people falter,
That’s a truth we can’t outgrow,
But one mistake should never ruin
All the life you’ve yet to know.
I don’t know much, maybe nothing
That the experts would all say,
But I know enough to tell you:
This is not the future we were promised yesterday