Intro Yeah, I’m Laman. First son. Packed a life in a sack, watched the city fade behind us. Hear it from the mouth that murmured. Hook I didn’t ask for the desert , or visions I can’t see, Didn’t ask to follow little bro like he’s leading me. Left my home for a promise I can’t touch or breathe, If this is faith, then why’s it always breaking me? Verse 1 Streets I knew turned rumor and smoke, Father said “leave,” my heart said “nope.” Walls still warm, my friends still close, We walked out slow like ghosts. I was heir by birth and name, Then Nee-fi flips the board, rearranges the game. He prays, gets fire, I get blame, Angel in my face like “change.” I changed for a night, then rage came back, Sand in a shoe on a thousand-mile track. Still, I hauled the tents, split the wood, Kept the coals when the desert felt good. Hard steps count, even taken confused, Shoulders cut open where the straps rubbed through. Hook I didn’t ask for the desert or visions I can’t see, Didn’t ask to follow little bro like he’s leading me. Left my home for a promise I can’t touch or breathe, If this is faith, then why’s it always breaking me? Verse 2 Three tries at the plates, came back scarred, Nee-fi walks in clean like heaven’s guard. You call it favor, I call it luck, Why’s my pride always eating dust? They say covenant, I hear leash, They say humble, I taste bleach. Firstborn son with a secondhand reach, But I still went back, that’s feet not speech. Pre-Hook If I kneel in the wind and the heat, Will God see me or only see Nephite feats? Trying to breathe, to believe, to be free, Every prayer sounds like “follow his lead.” Hook I didn’t ask for the desert , or visions I can’t see, Didn’t ask to follow little bro like he’s leading me. Left my home for a promise I can’t touch or breathe, If this is faith, then why’s it always breaking me? Verse 3 He shapes a hull from whisper and wood, I laugh, then lightning says “understood.” Hands went numb, pride went too, For a moment I behaved like truth was new. At sea I danced when the sky turned black, Tied him up while the waves fought back. Rope on wrists, fear in the mast, Storm wrote warnings across my past. Cut him loose when the thunder spoke, We lived, but my stubborn didn’t fully choke. Some men change when they taste the flood, I got wet, then got stuck in mud. Bridge I want a sign with my name on the seal, But till it comes, I’ll grind and heel. Not only pride, I’m duty and bone, A man can be wrong and still haul stone. Quiet one night, while the camp slept light, I whispered, “God, teach me to carry right.” No visions, no fire, no rush, no drum, Only my breath and a peace that came dumb. Verse 4 Promised land felt like rumor in sand, We split the camp with a trembling hand. Nephi took light, I took the brand, Called it survival, called it my stand. But I hunted the ridges, guarded a clan, Mapped dry rivers, worked what I can. If anger was armor, provision was real, My people ate because I worked that field. Verse 5 I’m still a storm, but the corners are round, I’m learning the difference between noise and sound. When I shoulder the packs, I say one line, “Let them be safe,” even if glory ain’t mine. If I meet God, and He asks me “why,” I’ll say, “I kept them fed. I tried.” Maybe that’s small, maybe that’s seed, Maybe that’s faith in a language I bleed. Final Hook Didn’t choose the desert still walked it out, Didn’t love the orders, still shouldered doubt. Left my home for a promise I barely see, If mercy counts miles, then remember me. Outro Write me hard-headed, fine, that fits, But write the load, the nights, the grit. If heaven keeps ledgers on who came through, Write one line simple: he carried his crew.
