Rails of Fire, Winds of Change

Rails of Fire, Winds of Change

Verse 1

In the northeast heat a steel arm fell, Onto a singing rail and a crowded shell. They were chasing speed on a foreign road, When the carriages burned and the night wind bowed. The builder bowed too, promising to make it right, As questions rose like smoke in the light— Another fall in the capital haunts the name, While investigators sift through flame.

Sources:

• Multiple fatalities as construction crane collapses onto moving train in Thailand
• Construction crane falls on a passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 30 people
• Crane crashes onto passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 32
• Construction crane collapses on passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 32

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Chorus

Hold on, hold on, the world is on a wire, Trembling between sorrow and a rising choir. We are more than headlines, more than sums, Keep the beat of mercy with your drums. Hold on, hold on, through thunder and the rain, Let the bridges hold, let the truth remain.

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Verse 2

In the marble city, letters cut like knives, Ripping lifelines from recovery lives— Naloxone, housing, peer hands to hold, All frozen cold by a stroke so bold. A day of panic, then the wheel spun back, Bipartisan thunder shook the track. The steward in charge knows the road of repair, Yet deeper cuts linger in the air.

Sources:

• Trump administration sends letter wiping out addiction, mental health grants
• Trump administration rolls back $2 billion mental health, addiction grant cuts
• Trump administration slashes grants for mental health and addiction treatment programs
• Trump administration cuts up to $1.9 billion from mental health and addiction treatment programs

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Chorus

Hold on, hold on, the world is on a wire, Trembling between sorrow and a rising choir. We are more than headlines, more than sums, Keep the beat of mercy with your drums. Hold on, hold on, through thunder and the rain, Let the bridges hold, let the truth remain.

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Verse 3

Across the sea, in a courtroom’s hush, Prosecutors speak in a winter crush: For a failed decree to summon the boots, They ask for the end, the harshest of routes. It’s the first in ages that such words are tried, For shaking the bones of the nation’s pride. No gallows have stirred there in many a year, Most whisper of life behind iron and fear.

Sources:

• Prosecutors seek death for South Korea's Yoon over martial law attempt
• Death penalty requested for Yoon Suk Yeol over insurrection charge
• Prosecutor seeks death sentence for ex-South Korean leader Yoon over martial law decree
• South Korea prosecutors seek death penalty for ex-President Yoon

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Verse 4

At the White House table, an island of ice, Where maps and power name their price. A working group formed, but the fault lines stayed, One voice called control the only trade. Denmark stiffened with allied hands, Nordic boots testing frozen lands. The UN wrote of a people’s choice, And Europe warned in a steady voice.

Sources:

• Denmark says there's a 'fundamental disagreement' with Trump over Greenland
• Trump says 'anything less' than US control of Greenland is 'unacceptable'
• Denmark, US Form Working Group as Disagreement Remains
• U.S., Greenland and Denmark set for talks amid Trump takeover threats

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Chorus

Hold on, hold on, the world is on a wire, Trembling between sorrow and a rising choir. We are more than headlines, more than sums, Keep the beat of mercy with your drums. Hold on, hold on, through thunder and the rain, Let the bridges hold, let the truth remain.

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Verse 5

The planet’s fever will not sleep, A string of scorching, searing deep. Agencies whisper the trend is fast, Faster than lines once forecast. Embers rise from fossil breath, El Niño eyes another test. Guardrails blur in the wavering heat— We need cool shade, we need swift feet.

Sources:

• 2025 was the 3rd-warmest year on record
• 2025 was the third-hottest year ever recorded on Earth, data shows
• Scientists call another near-record hot year a 'warning shot' from a shifting climate
• Copernicus: 2025 was the third hottest year on record

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Verse 6

Once a teenager on a Southern street, Kept her seat and would not retreat. Before a legend took that stand, She set the rhythm, she moved the land. Her name in court unbent the bars, A nurse by day, by night the stars. Records cleared, a quiet flame, Claudette Colvin—say her name.

Sources:

• Claudette Colvin, who refused to move seats on a bus at start of civil rights movement, dies at 86
• Claudette Colvin, unsung civil rights pioneer, dies at 86
• Claudette Colvin, who refused to move seats on a bus at start of civil rights movement, dies at 86
• Unsung US civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin dies, aged 86

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Final Chorus

Hold on, hold on, the world is on a wire, But we can be the thunder and the choir. From burning tracks to Arctic stone, From court to clinic, we are not alone. Hold on, hold on—raise your hands and sing, Let justice be the drum, let courage ring. Turn up the lights, strike the match, start the change— Rails of fire, winds of change!