Born As Ghosts

The lyrics present a place that appears calm and secure to those behind guarded walls, while children outside face fear, violence, and neglect. The repeated phrase “born as ghosts” suggests that these children are treated as invisible, as if their lives and suffering do not count. The mood grows from describing this contrast to demanding that the suffering be heard.

Several images make that contrast vivid. “Gates, guns and alarms” show how security creates a protected calm, but also hints at the danger beyond it. Calling a school “a tomb” suggests that education offers little hope in a setting marked by overcrowding and hardship. “The tales that tear at the myth of the dream” implies that real suffering challenges an idealized story of success and opportunity.

The lyrics may be read as a protest against inequality and the deliberate exclusion of vulnerable children, though they do not identify one specific place or group. The repeated call to “begin to speak our word” can sound like a plea for people to raise their voices, or a demand that society listen to those it ignores. “Ghosts” is best understood as a metaphor, not a literal description.