From the cradle to the grave [Old man's reckoning]

[Verse 1] Now I’m ninety-four, bones creaking like rusted gates Mirror shows a stranger, tattoos faded, hands that shake Hair gone gray as prison walls, lungs half-eaten by the smoke Still taste that state-issued bread, still hear those batons stroke Mama died alone, Daddy’s just a name on stone I became the ghost they feared, now I’m dying on my own Walked these streets for decades, but every door stayed shut They said the past would fade away… it only cut deeper in my gut [Chorus] The system took the wounded, sharpened me like blades Turned a scared little boy into a man the world betrayed From juvenile hell to adult cages, then these final lonely days You built the monster… now I’m dying in the mess you made Cradle to cage… cradle to grave You stole my life… and i dug it myself [Verse 2] Never found my daughter, never held her hand once She’s out there somewhere with my blood and all my sins at once I wrote her letters that came back, “return to sender” cold Just like the system taught me — some doors stay closed forevermore I buried friends from the yard, watched the cycle spin again Their sons and daughters locked away, same song, different pen Tried to break the chain a hundred times, always snapped right back Now death is at the door smiling, saying “welcome home, boy, at last” [Chorus] 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, now just old and broken men We are the walking evidence of wars you never end Cradle to cage… cradle to grave You broke the kid… and the man… and the grave [[Bridge] (slow, cracked voice, barely above a whisper over lone acoustic)] Where were you when I was eight… and again when I was forty-four? Where were you when my daughter asked about the dad she never saw? You locked the door, threw away the key, then washed your hands so clean Now I’m the last one standing… in the wreckage of your dream [[Heavy Breakdown] (low, gravelly growl, fading strength)] You harvested broken souls… planted ‘em deep in hell… Reaped the violence you sowed… now the reaper’s come for me as well… I became exactly what you feared… Everything you engineered… Now I’m just tired… [[Final Chorus] (building one last time, raw and desperate, then falling apart)] The system took the wounded, turned children into blades Watched us cut ourselves to pieces in the mess that you have made From the first cage to the last one, I never got away We are the children that your “justice” slayed… Cradle to cage… cradle to grave… Your mercy was a war… I never won… [[Outro] (very slow, acoustic, distant Hurdy returns, almost spoken at the end)] Broken homes to broken bars… to a broken man in a hospital ward… Never saw my baby girl… never broke the curse… Still carrying the kid they threw away… Now the kid’s laying down… in the dirt…