The Last Light

They say the machines are coming,

With red eyes in the dead of night.

But I’ve seen what a man can do

When he thinks his wrong is right.

There are wolves in the marble hallways,

There are names behind locked doors,

And the truth gets buried under money

While the cameras beg for more.

We watch it till the horror feels ordinary,

Scroll past the hurt,

then turn away.

Somewhere a line is wearing thinner—

Somebody’s got to say:

It ain’t the machine that’s gonna end us,

It’s the hands we never raise.

It’s the good folks learning silence,

It’s the brave ones looking away.

We don’t need a hero flying in Through the smoke above the

street. Just the ones on our left and right Standing when the

dark says, “Leave.” If we let that last light go,

Tell me what

are we calling this—

Heaven with the gates swung open,

Or hell we got used to living in?

There’s a child behind the headlines,

There’s a mother biting down her fear.

There’s a man who knows the truth inside him But he’s scared

of what it costs to hear.

And the ones who swear they serve us

Wear their flags like alibis.

While the island keeps its secrets

And the guilty learn to smile.

We call it old news,

call it politics, Call it anything but shame.

But evil doesn’t need a devil

When good people won’t speak its name.

It ain’t the machine that’s gonna end us,

It’s the hands we never raise.

It’s the good folks learning silence,

It’s the brave ones looking away.

We don’t need a hero flying in Through the smoke above the

street. Just the ones on our left and right Standing when the

dark says, “Leave.” If we let that last light go,

Tell me what are we calling this— Heaven with the gates swung

open, Or hell we got used to living in?

Maybe the good ones aren’t gone,

Maybe they’re tired, maybe scared.

Maybe they’re waiting on permission

From a world that never cared.

So take your place beside me,

I’ll take mine beside you.

One small voice can shake a room

When it finally tells the truth.

It ain’t the machine that’s gonna end us,

It’s the choice to do no good.

It’s the neighbor hearing trouble And pretending that he never could.

We don’t need a saint to save us,

We don’t need a shining sword.

Just a woman, just a man,

Who won’t bow down to a lie anymore.

If we stand before the last light,

Maybe there’s still a way through this— Maybe heaven’s in the ones

who stand, Maybe hell is what we let it be.

So when the dark comes calling,

And it will,

like it always has— Be

the

one beside

your neighbor. Be the one who doesn’t pass.