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