Children wake with stomachs bare,
Hunger lingers in the air.
Mama whispers, “Stay up strong,
One day soon, it won’t be long.”

Fathers missing, gone like ghosts,
Dreams replaced by gangland oaths.
Empty hands and broken plans,
A future slipping through the sands.

Sirens wail, the night stands still,
Faces hardened, bent by will.
Pages torn, but minds still fight,
Searching for a guiding light.

Yet in the dark, a fire stays,
A heart that beats, a soul that prays.
Through the struggle, through the pain,
One day, the sun will rise again.