I sit alone and hear the quiet in the walls at night Thinking ‘bout the ones before me, what they had to fight What was in your eyes, Grandma, that you never let me see? What kind of pain was buried deep beneath that dignity? Did you hold your tears in silence so the babies could feel safe? Did you bite your tongue through storms and still keep food upon the plate? Did you ever wanna scream about the things they took away? But learned this world don’t always let a Black woman say her pain Did your mama tell you stories ‘bout the fields and broken names? ‘Bout the blood inside the soil and the fire inside the chains? ‘Bout the backs that built a nation while the wounds stayed open wide? ‘Bout surviving every hatred with a holy kind of pride? And I wonder what you carried that you never put in words All the wisdom, all the warnings, all the truths I never heard Now I’m standing in the silence where your voice still should’ve been Trying to piece together power from the hurt passed down through skin [Hook] What would Grandma say If she could sit with me today? Would she tell me don’t you break You come from souls they could not shake Would she cry, would she pray Would she tell me why we hide the pain? All that silence, all that weight Still lives in us today [Verse 2] Some families never talk ‘cause talking opens up the grave Of the things our elders swallowed just to make it through the day Family leaders got silenced, either fear or force or shame Now the children grow with questions but don’t even know the names Don’t know who got torn apart, don’t know who had to run Don’t know who kept everybody fed when times were cold and numb Don’t know who was sold a lie, don’t know who survived the whip Don’t know who was born free but still got treated like they slipped And that pain kept moving forward, it was quiet but it spread Through the habits and the distance, through the things that went unsaid Through the fathers full of anger, through the mothers full of strain Through the children taught survival but not how to name the pain So we grew up with the scars but never got the map Never got the sacred language to know why our spirits cracked Never knew our blood remembers every triumph, every scar Every prayer under oppression made us who we really are [Hook] What would Grandma say If she could sit with me today? Would she tell me don’t you break You come from souls they could not shake Would she cry, would she pray Would she tell me why we hide the pain? All that silence, all that weight Still lives in us today [Bridge] Maybe she would say Baby, we were never weak We were learning how to live When the world denied us peace Maybe she would say Don’t confuse our hush for fear Every scar became a seed Now your purpose brought you here Maybe she would say Tell the children who they are Tell ‘em trauma ain’t the end Tell ‘em pain can make a star Tell ‘em we were beaten down But the soul still found its flame Tell ‘em history lives on Every time you say our name [Verse 3] So I imagine you speaking with a fire calm and deep Saying, boy, don’t run from history, let it wake what’s in your reach Let the struggle be a teacher, let the truth become your blade Not for hatred, but for healing everything they tried to break Tell the young ones they got power in their blood and in their mind Tell ‘em every stolen story still can help somebody rise Tell ‘em freedom ain’t just breathing, it’s remembering who you are It’s reclaiming what was buried, turning wounds to living art And I feel you in the heartbeat of the people still standing tall In the ones who kept on building though the world denied ‘em all In the ones who found a language in the music and the prayer In the ones who learned to lead because the elders weren’t still there So I sing for all the grandmothers whose truths got locked away For the sons who needed guidance, for the daughters searching faith For the generations rising, trying to turn the dark to sight We can heal what wasn’t spoken if we bring it to the light [Final Hook] What would Grandma say If she could sit with me today? She’d say child don’t you break You come from souls they could not shake She’d say speak, don’t fade Turn that silence into strength and change All that struggle, all that pain Can help somebody find their way
