[Chorus] Tragedy gets comforted, not fed another flame Whole block came together when they heard your brother's name Put your hands down, young blood, don't let sorrow choose your aim Tragedy gets comforted, we won't lose you to the game [Verse 1] He was nineteen with a bus pass folded in his coat Two names in his phone, one dream he never wrote His best friend took the hit outside the corner store Now every step back home felt heavier than before Auntie found him sitting by the laundromat door Knuckles pressed white, staring at the floor He said, "Tell me where they live, I know what I must do" She said, "I know that pain, but it can't make you" The news moved fast through apartments, porches, halls Someone knocked three times, then the hallway calls Old heads left dominoes, mothers left their work Even kids from the playground felt the silence hurt Pastor brought a folding chair, Malik brought a coat Miss Renee brought soup and a handwritten note Nobody asked him to be tough, nobody praised the rage They stood around his grief and helped him turn the page [Chorus] Tragedy gets comforted, not fed another flame Whole block came together when they heard your brother's name Put your hands down, young blood, don't let sorrow choose your aim Tragedy gets comforted, we won't lose you to the game [Verse 2] At midnight, he was pacing by the busted basketball light Replaying every second, trying to make the wrong feel right His phone lit up with rumors, threats dressed up as proof Each message built a coffin underneath the roof His little sister watched him from the bedroom stair She knew that look, the kind that says nobody cares He saw her holding his old school photograph And all the heat inside him cracked in half He said, "I can't just let it go, they took my friend away" His uncle said, "You honor him by choosing another day" "The street will call you fearless while it counts your final breath Then your mother gets a folded flag and everybody calls it death" The crew outside was waiting for a signal, waiting for a name But the block formed one long line between the boy and blame They walked him to the clinic where his best friend lay And grief became a promise he could keep another way [Chorus] Tragedy gets comforted, not fed another flame Whole block came together when they heard your brother's name Put your hands down, young blood, don't let sorrow choose your aim Tragedy gets comforted, we won't lose you to the game [Verse 3] Three weeks later, he was sweeping glass beside the store The same place where the sirens had screamed before He started nights at the rec center, fixed the broken gate Taught younger boys that anger never makes you safe His best friend's mother gave him keys to the room Said, "Build something here, let his memory bloom" They painted one blue wall, put his jersey in a frame And every Saturday the neighborhood repeated his name Still, some nights the old revenge came knocking at his chest A face in a passing car, a rumor, another test He called the number saved beneath his sister's name She said, "Come home, we're here, don't let them own your pain" So he turned from the corner, let the silence breathe Chose the hands that held him over hands that made him grieve A young man from the Ghetto, carrying sorrow like a stone Found a road through all the noise because he didn't walk alone [Bridge] [Background Chant] Hold him up, hold him up Guide him home, guide him home No more names on candles No more mothers standing alone [Verse 4] Years pass, but the mural still watches over the block Painted suns, open doors, a bright face on the wall He tells the young ones, "Pain can make you hard or wise Don't let a dying moment write the rest of your life" His best friend is remembered in the work they do Every meal, every coat, every promise carried through When the sirens start singing and the night turns cold The community gathers before the fear takes hold No fairy-tale ending, scars still answer when they can But healing is a choice made again by every hand He learned courage isn't fire, isn't striking back It's walking toward the broken and helping them unpack So when tragedy arrives, they open every door Bring blankets, bring witnesses, bring hope across the floor The young man found his future where revenge had been And the whole Ghetto breathed when they brought him home again [Final Chorus] Tragedy gets comforted, not fed another flame Whole block came together when they heard your brother's name Put your hands down, young blood, don't let sorrow choose your aim Tragedy gets comforted, we won't lose you to the game Tragedy gets comforted, let the whole community sing Turn the hurt into protection, let compassion be the thing Put your hands down, young blood, you still got a life to claim Tragedy gets comforted, we won't lose you to the game [Outro] [Background Chant] Hold him up, hold him up Guide him home, guide him home Tragedy gets comforted We won't lose another one
