This is an account
Bankrolled by the boys
In the back room with the bar tab
And the noise
Ashamed of how we acted
Too busy and distracted
We made a choice
This is an account
Bound up in a book
That no one tried to open
For the trouble that it took
If it was reckoning or risk
Or something that we missed
We never looked
Lift their faces off the page
Bring a light and love and honour to their names
This is more than just a numbers game
This is a count
This is a roll call
A gathering at last to tell
The story of us all
So it begins
Uncovering our skin, our limbs
Our backs against the wall
This is a count
A nod, a mark
A question, Are you present
Are you out there in the dark
Are you alive
Are you waiting to be recognized
In these parts
As for the rest
To confess
It was a simple act of negligence
A calculated guess
This is an account
The voice of the victim
A second generation’s
First telling of what hit them
One perspective
But this is how it starts, we respect it
We start a record