The Ballad of the Broken Bow

[Verse 1] Now I’m Forty four, scars on my knuckles, ink on my skin Still flinch when doors slam loud, still sleep with one eye open Mama never came back, Daddy’s grave don’t mean a thing The state gave me a number, now the streets gave me a name I walk these blocks like battlegrounds, every corner knows my face Job applications hit the trash the second they see my case They said “you paid your debt, son, now go and live your life” But the cage don’t leave your chest just ‘cause they opened up the gate [Chorus] Yeah, the system took the wounded and it sharpened me like blades Turned a scared little boy into a man nobody saves From juvenile detention to these adult prison parades You built the monster, now you blame the mess you made! Cradle to cage, cradle to grave You stole my youth, now I dig my own way [Verse 2] I got a daughter I never saw, ‘cause I don’t trust myself Same rage in my blood, same silence on the shelf I tried the meetings, tried the programs, tried to play it straight But the nightmares wear a badge and the flashbacks carry weight Friends from the yard still call when the rent money’s short We fall back on old habits ‘cause that’s the only port They taught us how to survive, not how to live Now every time I slip, they say “see? That’s who you really is” [Chorus] The system took the wounded and it sharpened us like blades Made scared and shattered children into men filled with grenades From those concrete halls we rose, the outlaws they betrayed We are the children that your “justice” made! Cradle to cage, cradle to grave You broke the kid… now watch the man behave [Bridge (slow, raw, almost spoken over sparse guitar)] Where were you when I was eight and crying in the dark? Where were you when the first time I had to fight for my heart? You locked the door, threw away the key, then acted surprised When the boy you buried came back with fire in his eyes [Heavy Breakdown (growled, heavy distortion)] You harvested broken souls! Planted ‘em deep in hell! Reap the violence you sowed yourself! Hear the funeral bell! I became exactly what you feared! Everything you engineered! [Final Chorus (epic, full band, layered angry vocals)] The system took the wounded, turned pain into a blade Fed the fire, killed the hope, then acted so betrayed From those cages rose the outlaws, the forgotten, the enraged We are the walking evidence of wars that you have waged! Cradle to cage… cradle to grave… Your mercy was a war you waged… [Outro (acoustic, weary, distant fiddle returns)] Broken homes to broken bars… Now I’m the ghost inside my daughter’s scars… Still carrying the kid they threw away… Still paying for the sins of yesterday…