What is Left Me but the Blues?

I kissed the naked earth with blistered feet
left drops of blood on every burning street
because I had no shoes.
So what is left me but the blues?

I say I'm a free woman. Easy claim,
but look: beside me is a man in chains
and he is me and I am you.
So what is left us but the blues?

The madman begging at the corner store
is a survivor of a foreign war
that he did not choose.
So what is left him but the blues?

There's a girl in town who just turned nineteen,
homeless, a mother, straight-A student, squeaky clean
I think she's got a lot to lose.
May God keep her from these blues.

In the echo of the gun and the shadow of the knife
my sisters and my brothers fight for their lives
and when they lose
well, what is left me but the blues?

The crime's not over once the reports are filed
when the victim on ice at the morgue is a child.
It was on the news.
So what is left me but the blues?

The boy could be my cousin, he could be your brother,
you are the weeping father and the broken mother,
you might be a burning fuse
cause what is left you but the blues?

Been a long time coming, got to end this dance.
We tell the world there's no more second chance,
you dare not refuse.
Give us what we're owed. Take away these blues.

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