You Don't Know My Story

[Verse 1]
I heard your track on the late-night drive
You said my uniform makes me blind
You want me looking straight through the badge
Like I’m just part of some cold blue line
You don’t know the calls I’ve carried home
Names in a notebook
Faces I can’t shake
You don’t see the blood on my boots
Or the way my hands still shake

[Chorus]
You don’t know my story
You just see this gun and shield
You don’t see the nights I’m praying
That nobody gets killed
Yeah
I stand in the middle
Between your hurt and their fear
You say you want me to see you
I wish you’d see me here

[Verse 2]
You talk about the lights in your eyes
How we pulled you out that night
You think all I saw was trouble
You don’t know I saw a kid in a fight
I grew up two blocks from the block you claim
Same cracked sidewalks
Same broke-down schools
I chose this side to hold a line
Not to play God
Not to play cruel

[Chorus]
You don’t know my story
You just see this gun and shield
You don’t see the nights I’m praying
That nobody gets killed
Yeah
I stand in the middle
Between your hurt and their fear
You say you want me to see you
I wish you’d see me here

[Bridge]
You think every stop is a target
I think every stop could go wrong
So I talk a little louder than I mean to
’Cause I’m scared we won’t make it home
I didn’t wake up wanting war
I signed up hoping for peace
If I sound hard when I’m talking
It’s ’cause soft men leave the streets

[Chorus]
You don’t know my story
You just see this gun and shield
You don’t see my kids by the window
Wonder if I’ll come back from the field
Yeah
I stand in the middle
Between your hurt and their fear
You say you want me to see you
I’m begging you
See me here

[Outro]
I heard your song on the late-night drive
Maybe this one reaches you too
I’m more than the patch on my shoulder
And I know you’re more than your crew