“13. The House That You Built (Tribute to you Mother)” from The House That Trauma Built by Li Jean-Luc Harris. Released: 2026. Track 13.
Lyrics: (Intro – softly, like a memory surfacing)
The past is a room you can’t lock from the outside
Sometimes a storm, sometimes a rising tide
But I walk back through it, just to find the proof
Of the one steady thing, the one part that was truth… you.
(Verse 1)
I remember the sound of the keys in the door
The air growing heavy, the silence before
The storm in the kitchen, the thunder in the hall
And six little soldiers pressed against the wall.
But through the static of the fighting, and the slam of a fist
There was you in the doorway, a promise that you exist
Humming a low tune, a defiant, quiet sound
The only patch of solid on the shaking ground.
(Pre-Chorus)
And we were just children, we didn’t understand the war
We only knew the wounds, and what we were longing for.
We saw your strength as distance, your survival as a wall
We never saw you breaking, every time you watched us fall.
(Chorus)
And oh, we cried out for a ghost, pushed your loving hand away
Blamed you for the darkness, while you were fighting for the day.
But you were the anchor in the hurricane’s design
You were the shoreline, the unwavering, steady line.
You were the love we couldn’t see, but always knew was true,
The foundation of the world was you.
(Verse 2)
Then came the years the system stole, a world of grey and white
A different kind of empty in the long and lonely night.
I was a number in a file, a ship without a port
A story they would write down in a clinical report.
But you, you took on giants in those sterile, faceless halls
You answered every question, you returned a thousand calls.
You fought for three of them and brought them home to stay,
And whispered to the universe, “He’ll come back to me someday.”
(Chorus)
And oh, I cried out for a ghost, pushed your loving hand away
Blamed you for the darkness, while you were fighting for the day.
But you were the anchor in the hurricane’s design
You were the shoreline, the unwavering, steady line.
You were the love I couldn’t see, but always knew was true,
The foundation of my world was you.
(Bridge – the music swells, full of pride and release)
But I see you now, laughing in the kitchen light
With a gentle man beside you who holds your hand so tight.
And the peace you’ve found is more than just your own, it’s a victory, a sign
That every tear you ever cried has watered this new lifeline.
And though other hands held me, safe and kind and true,
My fractured, homing compass always pointed back to you.
And I am so proud of you, I hope you truly know,
You gave us all the broken ground on which to stand and grow.
(Outro – building to a powerful, soaring finish)
You broke the chains.
You broke the chains we didn’t even see.
You faced the fire, and in the ashes, you found the key.
You broke the chains.
You broke the chains for all of us to see.
You ended the cycle, and you set your children free.
My warrior, my mother, my compass and my guide,
My strength is just the echo of the strength you hold inside.
All that I have, and all that I’ll ever do…
All that I am is the house that you built.
It was always you.