Atonement

Words & Music by Ala Ghawas

Buskers at the corners burning their guitars
Their mothers cried blood when you’re gone
Their girlfriends in a row sketching your face on the walls
With candles in their hands when you’re gone

And I don’t know why you’ve been faking those smiles of yours
And I don’t know why you've been waiting for love to bring you home

They turned your playground into a churchyard
They named it by you when you’re gone
Love is for trade, porn is the currency
and music is forbidden by the lord when you’re gone

And I don’t know why you’ve been faking those smiles of yours
And I don’t know why you've been waiting for love to bring you home
A fragile vagabond in the making (on the way to his own shining star)
A reckless hobo eternally waking (with his soul hanging onto a broken guitar)

You’ve been dreaming with your tears run dry
Nobody taught you how to dive or run or fly
I missed your last sigh
Jackie told you: “You better quit this scene, before it leans,
before it keens, before it messes up your genes (think about it)”.
And I was thinking: “Tell him something more for love’s sake,
you’re his God and he’s just fucking sixteen.”
He said: ”Classrooms won’t do you any good, you really should be in Hollywood if you could - and that’s what I mean”.
And I thought: “He was born to feel misunderstood.
He was the most ill-fated kid that I have ever seen”

Mothers cried blood when you’re gone
Mothers cried blood when you’re gone
Mothers cried blood when you’re gone
Mothers cried blood when you’re gone