Lyrics

I know exactly what these hands could do - I've done the math
I've felt the old red engine roaring shortcuts to my wrath
I am not gentle out of weakness, I was never short on storm
I am gentle like a dam is: on purpose, and with force

I raised my hand in classrooms, asking leave to speak my mind
I raised it swearing loyalties I later left behind
But there's one way I won't raise it, though the whole world says I can:
I will not bring it down in anger on a fellow traveling man

I will not raise my hand
Not for flags and not for pride
Not for gods who ask for ashes
Not to prove what burns inside
Every stranger is a traveler
With a purpose none can see
If I break him, I break a reason
This whole world was meant to be

This is not a coward's quiet, this is not a bent-knee peace
I will stand between the harmer and the harmed without release
I will plant myself, a mountain, where the cruelty wants through
But my hands stay open, open - open hands can stop things too

I will not raise my hand
Not for flags and not for pride
Not for gods who ask for ashes
Not to prove what burns inside
Every stranger is a traveler
With a purpose none can see
If I break him, I break a reason
This whole world was meant to be

Whatever violence we plant here doesn't die when we are done
It waits inside the culture for our children and their sons
And we return, we all return, to harvest what we sowed
So I am planting gardens all along this endless road

I will not raise my hand
And that vow is not a wall
It's the strongest thing I carry
And I carry it for all
Every stranger is a traveler
Every traveler is a friend
I will guard the road we walk on
With open hands until the end

Open hands
Open hands
The strongest man in any room
Is the one with open hands