| A young child sits quiet, the forest is dark
 | 
| Possibilities overflow his unbroken heart
 | 
| I ask him well after the brush takes the spark
 | 
| What do you see in the fire?
 | 
| I see light within color and color in light
 | 
| Trophies I’ll take home, and battles I’ll fight
 | 
| A bright blue horizon with no pain in sight
 | 
| I’ll be there and so will my parents and you’re invited too
 | 
| A life-sentence inmate in orange prisoner clothes
 | 
| Who’s been told his whole life «that's just how it goes»
 | 
| Who came out swinging from poverty row
 | 
| Sits a bit close to the dangerous glow
 | 
| What do ya see in the fire?
 | 
| I see rich people laughin' with food on their plates
 | 
| And neighborhood bullies imprinted with hate
 | 
| Moms and dads screaming at each other insane
 | 
| And hard grey redemption a little too late
 | 
| And I see myself as I might’ve been
 | 
| I’m handsome and capable and funny
 | 
| A young woman in college entranced by the flames
 | 
| Is pondering silent how perfectly strange
 | 
| A girl could be called by so many names
 | 
| And not one be the one she was given
 | 
| What do you see in the fire?
 | 
| I see myself in the mirror, not pretty enough
 | 
| And digital images reducing love
 | 
| My roommate enslaved by expectations above
 | 
| And then I see the face of my mother
 | 
| A first year preacher stands on his feet
 | 
| His love for man kind is true and complete
 | 
| While the frigid wind blows through the trees
 | 
| I ask, as he leans away from the heat
 | 
| What do you see in the fire?
 | 
| I see swirling confusion, question, and loss
 | 
| And I know all about Christ and the cross
 | 
| But I cannot explain the holocaust
 | 
| I stuttered when a young man asked me to
 | 
| I just couldn’t find the words
 | 
| A woman of ninety with wisdom in spades
 | 
| Her mind still as sharp as her kitchen blades
 | 
| I ask as her memory nonetheless fades
 | 
| What do you see in the fire?
 | 
| I see the touch of my husband who recently passed
 | 
| Our hometown before the roads got so fast
 | 
| And I see it now in an impatient blur
 | 
| And I see how in love we were
 | 
| I see the good Lord offering mercy
 | 
| I see the good Lord offering mercy
 | 
| I see the good Lord offering mercy
 | 
| Someone I care for, she sits by my side
 | 
| I can feel the past and the future collide
 | 
| She leans in and whispers: «don't think just decide
 | 
| What do you see in the fire?»
 | 
| I see the faces of my victims whose hearts I once broke
 | 
| Calm and alive in the curling smoke
 | 
| All I can do is sit here and hope
 | 
| They may find a way to forgive me
 | 
| There’s something unspoken there in your eyes
 | 
| A pain or a love I don’t recognize
 | 
| I better ask you now before it dies
 | 
| What do you see in the fire? |