HARD MERCY

Mercy ain't soft where I come from It wears work boots and carries scars

Verse 1 I watched a good man lose his farm For signing one bad page Saw his oldest boy turn seventeen And learn the shape of rage Saw a widow beg a courthouse For another thirty days They sent a letter with a number And took everything away So don't preach me clean forgiveness From a chair that never broke Some men need a hand pulled upward Some need pulling from your throat

Hook Hard mercy That's the kind I know A hand when you're falling A fist when you won't let go Hard mercy No angel wings above Sometimes doing what's right Don't look a damn thing like love

Verse 2 There was a kid behind the Texaco Sleeping in his Chevrolet Hadn't eaten since the morning Hadn't had a home in days I gave him fifty and my jacket Told him where the highway bent Then caught the man who took his wages Before the bastard spent a cent I ain't claiming I'm a good man Good men sleep a little more But I've learned justice rarely enters Through the courthouse's front door

Hook Hard mercy That's the kind I know A hand when you're falling A fist when you won't let go Hard mercy It don't shine, it don't preach It just does what needs doing When heaven's out of reach

Breakdown I've carried men from wreckage I've carried some outside I've held a stranger while he shook And told another man to hide Same two hands Different night Same old line Between wrong and right Hard mercy Blood and bone Leave nobody helpless Leave no debt alone Hard mercy No halo, no applause If the world won't do what's decent Then somebody damn well does

Outro

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