I’d been playing around with this melody and chord progression for a long time, with just a lyric line firmly in place, and knowing I wanted the low, moaning lament of unison voices setting the tone for the song.  

What made this one come together for me were all the heartbreaking stories of refugees around the world fleeing for their lives --- reading stories and seeing photographs of terrified parents with their children, whose homelands are so lawless and dangerous that their only hope is to travel impossible journeys, to try to beat impossible odds in order to simply live. 

And if they’re lucky enough to survive the journey, they face even more difficulty as they attempt to navigate a new country where many inhabitants will see them as a threat, having been whipped into a xenophobic frenzy by fearful, misguided leaders. 

This song is meant to be a powerful, heartbreaking depiction of this ongoing tragedy.