Branded Deep

Verse 1

War child

Sorry for you

Growing up, ground quakes, every morning

You weren’t born bold, hardened, tough

But they train you, teach you, strip your hope, stuff it down

Little feet run on broken brick, heart barely beating

Fighting shadows, shattered families, no shield, just your name

Overhead, sky streaks soundless, silence splits the streets

Chorus

Terrible things, you’ve seen them unfold

Brutal truths, branded deep in your soul

A thousand lost, each day another wave

Sorrow crushes, sorrow stays

Post-Chorus

War child, war child

It’s never fair, it’s never right

War child, war child

Hold your ground through endless nights

Verse 2

Ghaza strips—lines drawn, lives cross

Smoke swallowing blue, streets never sleep

Buildings bleed dust, windows all shattered

Schools in ruins, hospitals hollowed, faith hangs by a thread

Bombardment blurs day and night, names are numbers lost

Checkpoints choke, tourniquets tighten on trust

Tourists picked apart, jackets, bags, x-rays burn

Passport in hand—fear written where stamps once smiled

Chorus

Terrible things, you’ve seen them unfold

Brutal truths, branded deep in your soul

A thousand lost, each day another wave

Sorrow crushes, sorrow stays

Post-Chorus

War child, war child

Another year, long as forever

War child, war child

Hold on, don’t let go, never

Bridge

Twenty five years

Gone grinding, ghost on the wall

Twenty five years

Childhood slips, fighting for scraps, memory calls

Who protects the broken, who counts the cost

Who listens when silence screams, when all’s lost

Verse 3

Hold close

All you have left—each moment matters

Through fear, through fire, you walk, you wonder

This maze of sorrow, threads fraying with thunder

Break the chains, build a future, wish it could be

War child, still dreaming, still free, barely

Chorus

Terrible things, you’ve seen them unfold

Brutal truths, branded deep on your soul

A thousand lost, each day another wave

Sorrow crushes, sorrow stays

Post-Chorus

War child, war child

It’s never fair, it’s never right

War child, war child

Sing for peace, fight for light

Outro

War child, war child

Dream beyond the fire

War child, war child

All the world’s desire