Alchemy

[verse 1]
If simply I could say and then see it done
I probably would have spoke it when I just begun
If life is just as awful as they say it is
How come everyone bargains when their time has come?
Every day I see it more and more
Children wondering ‘what is their existence for?’
Innocence to animosity, intensified by poverty
They’re caught up in their father’s wars
Evil’s something taught, it’s not innate
They plant the seeds in youth and then the children grow to hate
Kill others for some words some ancients scribbled on a slate
And orphans of the war will never make it to see eight
And as we’re taught to look the other way
The children die by bullets that some other child made
And that’s just another day
We’re more concerned with something that some scarlet had to say
We trade comfort for the truth
Because it’s just too damn unpleasant to investigate the root
Divided by imaginary lines
We kill the other side as if somehow they’re malign
We overlook the people in our streets
And look down on the ones who ask for help when they’re in need
A homeless family dies and nobody even blinks
God-forbid you change the volume of our weapon’s magazines
Me, I’m not a soldier for what it’s worth
My only worth is the order which I choose my words
Value the living over death
I’ll speak for peace until they take my breath

[Chorus]
I just want to save a life
Just the way I was saved
I have finally found my light and this will be my alchemy

[verse 2]
A father hits a mother while the children watch
As he stumbles into the house after seven shots
Another bruise, that’s another lesson taught
All the while the children desperate to see the violence stop
Now their son grows up confused exactly what a woman’s worth
The one you choose to love is the one you love to hurt
The older daughter grows and knows to never trust a man
While the younger one never understands
Fifteen and all alone, the siblings left the home
It’s getting hard to cope, she thinks of letting go
Starts drinking like her father, hoping to escape
Has too many at a party, a victim of a rape
And when she finally finds the courage to stand up to what’s wrong
They have the nerve to scrutinize the clothes that she puts on
I will stand up to those who don’t respect a woman’s choice
Keeping on speaking for those who don’t have a voice

[Chorus]
I just want to save a life
Just the way I was saved
I have finally found my light and this will be my alchemy

[verse 3]
Why can’t we all evolve and be something more
And leave the world better than it was before
It’s been two thousand years, we’re not so simple minded
Pursuits are different, more concerned with what lies behind it
Love everyone, love love itself
Learn to value human life over human wealth
You can’t fight for peace
It just compels the problem
Only accepting this will any of us start to solve them
We are one people, under one sky
With one destiny confined to such a short time
This is a renaissance, it’s not a revolution
Let our generation catalyze an evolution
I am no crusader, let me make it clear
And my words will likely fall upon a deafened ear
But I’ll keep speaking up for what I feel is right
In the hope someday that I can save a life

[Chorus]
I just want to save a life
Just the way I was saved
I have finally found my light and this will be my alchemy

[epilogue]
I just want to save a live
Just the way I found myself saved
And truth be told, I've found my light
Let this be my alchemy