Before

I don't know what I’m doing
I just play

I play chords like a church song
That scale I was raised on
And the memories hurt some
I can't shake it it's in me still
All of the pride and shame instilled
Accents, I was raised to feel
True meaning when our words just fail
I know we are scarred and the love is real
My Amharic’s not what it used to be
Get excited when a few words come to me
It's like playing these black keys
I can't call the notes, but it's therapy
We long to connect I guess, even when home is a wreck
And stretched across continents, we left and left
I'm always leaving, but dreaming to stay
All of these relics and keepsakes
Adorn our necks like lost faith
Of crosses that we don't pray to
Just to celebrate what made you
Cry out loud, let the rain heal
For a home that isn't so pain-filled
What we can't see but we may build

Dreams get made like they’re make-believe
Make-believe
And I may conceive a world in my mind that I may achieve
I may achieve
What I reach up for as I’m falling down
Down, falling down
Though my closest friends, they are still around
Around my way it's the same, I guess
Homeless hunting for cigarettes
Kids on the court trying to see who’s best
Arms raised up, we don't know who's next
We don't know who’s next
Please help us live
And if you choose to give a damn
I will show you who I am
Just to show you who I am
So these days I get up early
Stroll from Yonge to Berkeley
Hold my chest from the biting cold
Every moment it writes our souls
And we don't know the path
But it's our path to stray
I might go, I have to say
Just how much a laugh can say
A laugh can say