Fear
Lenny Kravitz Lyrics

I smell the fear that rains inside
I am capable of picking up on the sense of anxiety and uncertainty that permeates the environment

The thought of children who must oblige
It is distressing to think about young people being forced into difficult or unpleasant situations

To tainted dreams and polluted seas
Both the aspirations and the natural environment have been fouled and corrupted in some way

The missing moon and melting trees
This is a commentary on how the natural world is changing and suffering due to human actions and neglect

A mist of doom and clouds of pain
A pervasive sense of negativity and suffering seems to fills the air and linger over everything

A toxic waste and an acid rain
The physical world is being damaged and becomes increasingly poisonous and corrosive

The passing of our ignorance
The problems are not just grounded in the present moment but have accumulated due to lack of knowledge, action, or awareness over time

A lifetime spent in abstinence
A pervasive sense of abstinence or holding back from pleasure or enjoyment haunts people despite the fact that they may be suffering or feel oppressed

Conditioned to hate and them to blame
People have been indoctrinated to distrust others, foster hatred, and assign fault, instead of coexisting and working together productively

Their search for God is just the same
Individuals may have different ways of approaching divinity, but at the core they tend to share the same questions or yearnings

Machines for hearts, how warped a view
The person that is being referred to has become disassociated, lacking compassion and empathy, and instead focuses on efficiency and output

Forgetting that they're human too
They ignore the fact that they are human beings with emotions or needs, which results in them becoming less humane

Waiting like a branded steer
They feel like they are just waiting for some inevitable end or slaughter, without much power to change the course of events

Who first will launch the burning spear
This is a call for action, but also a realization that someone has to be the first to take that risk and initiate a change

When every day may be your last
Tomorrow is not guaranteed, and in fact there could be a sense of impending doom, which means that action must be taken while one still has the chance

You think we'd learn from our past
Despite repeated cycles of pain or failure, it seems people tend not to heed these lessons and continue doing the same things over and over again

The thought of so many lives denied
It is horrifying to consider the number of people who had their hopes, dreams, or lives extinguished before they had a chance to flourish

More wounded soldiers, another burning flag
There seems to be a sense of constantly escalating violence and conflict that leads to more injuries and deaths, and yet very little resolution

And rows and rows of body bags
The consequences of violence and war are clearly visible, with the dead being lined up in order to be disposed of

No time for tears as the night falls cold
There is no time to grieve or reflect on the loss, because the situation is dire and may get even worse

The day survivors crawl back in their holes
Those who survived may be left with trauma, fear, or mistrust, causing them to retreat from society and withdraw into themselves

As for the rest they're shipped back home
The people who sent the soldiers to fight may not be fully aware of the horrors that they experienced, and view them as disposable resources rather than as people

Home to the rows of white tomb stones
The soldiers who do return have nothing to look forward to, but rather are reminded of their fallen comrades, giving them a sense of survivor's guilt and existential fear