Ask the City

[Verse 1] There’s a crack beside the sidewalk where the old tree used to grow. There’s a name beneath the paintwork that the new signs never show. There’s a window with a flower in an empty second floor. Someone left it there on purpose. Someone lived behind that door. [Pre-Chorus] I don’t need the whole answer. I just need to know the thread. Every question is a doorway. Every silence leaves a shape. [Chorus] Ask the city, ask it softly, “What happened here before?” Who was here? Who had to leave? Who built this? Who believed? Ask the city, keep it curious. Follow every little clue. If the story doesn’t fit the feeling, there’s more truth waiting underneath. [Verse 2] There’s a bus stop full of flyers, half of them are years old now. There’s a promise on the corner that nobody can explain how. There’s a mural under scaffolding, there’s a garden through the fence. There’s a neighborhood still breathing through the cracks of common sense. [Pre-Chorus] We don’t have to find a villain. We don’t have to rush the blame. We can start with what is missing. We can learn to name the change. [Chorus] Ask the city, ask it softly, “What happened here before?” Who was here? Who had to leave? Who built this? Who believed? Ask the city, keep it curious. Follow every little clue. If the story doesn’t fit the feeling, there’s more truth waiting underneath. [Bridge] If a city is a body, let it tell us where it hurts. Not to punish every fever. Not to call the sick ones worse. Let the records meet the memories. Let the numbers meet the names. Let the people who survived it help redesign the game. [Final Chorus] Ask the city, ask it softly, “What do you remember now?” What was lost? What can return? What did we learn? What must we learn? Ask the city, keep it curious. Let the questions gather light. Every answer opens something. Every witness brings it back to life. [Outro] There’s a crack beside the sidewalk. There’s a name beneath the paint. If you stop and look a little closer— the city starts to speak again.