Lock the door, close the blinds, keep your head down low
Don’t you look at the fire burning in the row
If you don’t speak the name, maybe the monster walks past
Praying that the shadow isn’t built to last
You see the brother taken, you see the system cheat
But you hurry up your pace and you look down at your feet
You tell yourself you’re clever, you tell yourself you’re wise
Buying your survival with a pair of closed eyes
For the silence is a ledger, keeping every score
A thief that takes a little, then comes back for more
You think you bought your safety with the words you didn’t say…
But the quiet is a tax that you eventually pay!

Oh, the price of silence!
You swallow down the truth just to live another day!
But a swallowed stone will make the belly ache…
How much of your spirit are you willing to break?
You save your own skin, but you sell your soul
Digging out a shelter that becomes a hole!
If you don’t speak up when the fire is small…
The ashes of the silence are gonna bury us all!

You whisper to your children, “Just comply and survive”
Teaching them the art of being barely alive
You pass the heavy burden that you chose not to lift
And call it protection, and call it a gift
But the oppressor doesn’t leave because you offer him a seat
He just moves his heavy boots from the dirt to the sheet!
We are paying for the words that the ancestors hid
Don’t make your children fight the battles that you never did!
For the silence is a ledger, keeping every score
A thief that takes a little, then comes back for more
You think you bought your safety with the words you didn’t say…
But the quiet is a tax that you eventually pay!

Oh, the price of silence!
You swallow down the truth just to live another day!
But a swallowed stone will make the belly ache…
How much of your spirit are you willing to break?
You save your own skin, but you sell your soul
Digging out a shelter that becomes a hole!
If you don’t speak up when the fire is small…
The ashes of the silence are gonna bury us all!

I refuse to be a ghost, in my own damn home!
I am spitting out the fear! I am spitting out the stone!
Let the trouble come! Let the water rise!
I would rather face the wind than live inside a compromise!
Open Up Your Mouth! Let The Rhythm Out!
If They Won’T Hear The Whisper, Then We’Re Gonna Have To Shout!

Oh, the price of silence!
You swallow down the truth just to live another day!
But a swallowed stone will make the belly ache…
How much of your spirit are you willing to break?
You save your own skin, but you sell your soul
Digging out a shelter that becomes a hole!
If you don’t speak up when the fire is small…
The ashes of the silence are gonna bury us all!