Throughout history, across the world, humans have shared their culture with others through song. Songs from their faith, country, region, race, culture, subculture, futbol team, or even the local tavern; a shared connection. The following is one of the songs from my community, a lament, I’d like to share with you all.

G             D           C  
Remember your mercies, O Lord  
G                 D  
We’ve got so much hurt  
Remember we’ve fallen so hard  
From our concrete towers to Earth  
Remember we sleep every night  
With doors locked and shades pulled down tight  
Remember your mercies, O Lord  

G             C       G  
We’re already so terrified  
Em                  C  
We just stay in one place  
We just cover our faces  
We just look at our hands  
Em                      C       D  
We just don’t know what time it is  

Remember your mercies, O Lord  
Just could you please be kind  
We’re grateful for so many things  
But you also gave us these minds  
Like you gave us the sky and the trees  
And we couldn’t keep them from harm  
Remember your mercies, O Lord  
We’ve wired our hearts with alarm  

We just sit in these chairs now  
We just stare at these screens now  
We just work all the time now  
We just don’t know what day it is  

We’re tired and hungry for dreams now  
We’ve traded our love for relief  
When our casualties rise like black rivers  
From deserts to flood city streets  
Remember your mercies, O Lord  
Please don’t deny us our song  
We’re rambling, restless, and weary  
We’ve been in this war for too long  
We’re black and we’re blue and we’re broke down  
We’ve been in this war for too long  

Words and music by Chris Simpson (Mineral), public domain.