Small hands that didn't ask to hold
This ticket to a world so cold
Woke to the sound of a slamming door
A love that was, but is no more
Watched the light in their eyes go dim
A kingdom lost on a childish whim
Just a boy with a question mark
Standing silent in the dark
Oh, the circus came to town
With a painted smile and a thunderous sound
They tried to teach me how to wear the chain
To smile and nod and feel the pain
But the child I was still asks the sky
"Why was I born beneath this sky?"
Then to a prison called a school
They tried to shape me as their tool
To make me fit a little square
To kill the dream and plant despair
They laughed because I walked alone
A different drum, a softer tone
I learned my skin was not the right
In their harsh and blinding light
Oh, the circus came to town
With a painted smile and a thunderous sound
They tried to teach me how to wear the chain
To smile and nod and feel the pain
But the child I was still asks the sky
"Why was I born beneath this sky?"
Then came the hunger for a hand to hold
A story different from the one they told
But the mirror showed a face of flaws
A boy who'd learned to hide because
The ghosts of home were in my veins
The echo of their old refrains
So I found ghosts of my own to keep
In a hazy, numb and dreamless sleep
The world then said it's time to climb
To sell your soul a dime at a time
To wear the mask and play the game
For fortune, status, and for fame
To step upon a brother's hand
To be a king in this barren land
But the boy inside just shook his head
He chose the living instead of the dead
Oh, the circus came to town
With a painted smile and a thunderous sound
They tried to teach me how to wear the chain
To smile and nod and feel the pain
But the child I was still asks the sky
"Why was I born beneath this sky?"
So here I stand beneath the light
With a wooden guitar to sing the night
I am the man that boy became
I cannot play their cruel, sad game
I have no answers for the sky
I only have this lullaby
For the one who didn't ask to be
For the silent child, for you, for me