Rose of Sharon

My name is Rose of Sharon, you can call me Rose

I was named after a flower that grows in the Holy Land

But my life's been far from holy -- I'm 17 and I've got a baby

And a lot of people condemn me for that

But it's made me stronger

I'm no longer a little girl

That's not the worst thing in the world

Gotta grow up someday

It's made me wonder

Why things are the way they are

Why some people starve every day

While some are so rich they're throwing money away

I look at my own mom, she's worked hard all her life

And she's had to fight for every step she made

We used to be on food stamps and I hated going to the store

'Cause people either stared at us or had to look away

But it made us stronger

My mom said to hold my head high

She said it wasn't a crime

To need a little help sometimes

She says you gotta wonder

What this world is coming to

When tryin' to feed your child is a sin

While we spend billions on these wars nobody wins

And I'm sitting in history class talking 'bout the dust bowl

While there's a homeless man right outside the window

But I don't have the time to whine

About how nothing's going to change

I've got a child to raise and I owe it to her

To try to make it better

We can do better

I will do better by her

I don't know nothing about politics and war

Or governments and presidents and things

But it looks a lot like high school

Bunch of boys acting tough

They don't know how to listen, they all talk too much

But I'm getting stronger

I can feel it in my arms

Comes from carrying something precious and heavy

And I'm starting to wonder

Is it really all that hard?

I mean, every mother knows what this world needs

Just gotta keep the babies safe

And give them enough to eat

My name is Rose of Sharon, you can call me Rose

I was named after an ancient flower