Still Human

Sirens fade behind the rain, Morning finds me, not the same. First day badge, a loaded sky, Every door taught me how men die. I came to serve, I learned to run, Past empty eyes and smoking guns. The city burned its name in me, A scar no daylight gets to see. I left with breath inside my chest, But something innocent stayed there. I know the sound a last hope makes, I know how fast a promise breaks. Still, when the dark says, “Save your skin,” I hear the man I could have been. I got out alive, but alive is not enough, Not if fear can turn my heart as cold as all this blood. Let the night rewrite my name, Let survival leave its mark - I will carry what it changed, But I will not become the dark. I got out alive, And I choose to stay human. A child looked up and trusted me, While walls came down around our feet. I could not save them, not them all, Their voices follow when I fall. The dead were not the worst I saw - The living trading love for law. So every step beyond that flame Must prove I did not leave the same. No clean escape, no victory, Just names that keep on walking with me. If mercy hurts, I’ll bear the cost; It is the line I have not lost. I got out alive, but alive is not enough, Not if fear can turn my heart as cold as all this blood. Let the night rewrite my name, Let survival leave its mark - I will carry what it changed, But I will not become the dark. I got out alive, And I choose to stay human. The road ahead is black and long, My hands will shake, but still hold on. I cannot be who walked inside, But I decide what walks outside. No city, monster, lie, or grave Will make compassion something weak. The part of me that night could not kill Is the only part I mean to keep. I got out alive, and now I know the cost: You do not beat the horror by becoming what it wants. Let the ashes stain my name, Let the memory leave its mark - I will carry every face, But I will not become the dark. I got out alive, And I choose to stay human. Sirens gone. The morning starts. The city fell. I kept my heart.