Have we been deafened or just forgotten
the chorus that rang from cuban coasts
Guantanamo your walls keep rising
just the zephyr memory of your prisoners' ghosts
where do we send them
the sick when they find us
feel their wounds and show them rules
no treatment, just profit, don't let their costs confine us
Troy is nowhere
don't show me his cell
just let me push the needle through
he's never had a story to tell
we must reach higher
removed from this place
to altitude my brothers, run
look back and see the darkness in your days
my neighbor screams toiling
her hunger pangs roar
the world's so real today
whole countries writhe, starving on the floor
oh prisoner you still teach me
your conscience marks the wall
beside the scratching of your fingers
while the interrogator reveals all
we must reach higher
taste better air and starve our lies
to altitude my sisters, run
to the summit sprint find your daughters freer lives
the number climbed
past one hundred the counting stopped
he drownd every day, two hundred times
his grave ready, his body not
oh higher, brother reach higher
out from here, cool your hands on the sun
oh higher, sister reach higher
the conquerers are sorry but conquest can't be undone
to altitude, to altitude
unclasp your feet and climb
unlink your children's chains
do not return, do not descend to the waiting mines
we must reach higher
and be loud as we stretch
to altitude we take a history that's audible
unforsaken tale of the poor and the wretch
