Before the ground had ever held a grave,
before a single tongue had learned the word,
two brothers brought their offering to God,
and only one was heard.
[Verse 1]
One gave the best and softest of his flock;
one gave the leavings he could spare.
And the one who gave the less looked across the field
at the one whom God found fair.
“I will kill you” — the cruellest mouth the earth had ever heard;
and the other raised no hand at all, but raised a word:
[Pre-Chorus]
“I will not raise my hand against you,
though you stretch out yours for mine.
I fear my Lord, the Lord of all that is” —
the first witness of the line.
[Chorus]
And where is your brother? — the oldest question cried,
the first word the Unseen ever asked of those who lied.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” — and the answer’s always true:
yes, you are; you always were; and it’s asked tonight of you.
[Verse 2]
The grass had never drunk a man before;
the ground did not know what to do.
He carried, set him down, and carried him once more —
and the first killer never knew.
Till God sent down a crow to scratch the earth
and show him how to bury what he’d done:
the first grave dug by a bird, in a young earth’s sight,
over the one who would not raise his hand to fight.
[Chorus]
And where is your brother? — the oldest question cried,
the first word the Unseen ever asked of those who lied.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” — and the answer’s always true:
yes, you are; you always were; and it’s asked tonight of you.
[Bridge]
And the question never stopped — it crossed the years,
it fell on every field, it found us here;
on every Cain who ever turned and lied
“I do not know” — while another brother died.
But the candle that he lit out in that field
has never once gone out, and never will:
from Noah’s grief to Abraham’s bared stone,
to Karbala — to here — you’re not alone.
[Verse 3]
He is not the first victim — hear it plain —
he is the first witness, he’s the first flame;
the grain of the whole chain was in his throat:
“I fear my Lord” — the one unbroken note.
[Outro]
So where is your brother? The question’s in your hands;
the candle’s in your keeping where the long chain stands.
Don’t wait the dark in stillness — wait with your hand laid down,
wait with the candle burning, and an answer of your own.
Where is your brother?
(you always were his keeper)
Where is your brother?
(keep the candle lit)
