## Walking Together: Songs for Solidarity ##

This is an entry in the Walking Together songwriting contest.

The WEF estimates there are over 150 million people without homes worldwide. This project is aimed at supporting efforts to help people "made of potential" out of homelessness in co-operation with Homeless Entrepreneurs.

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The song depicts the lives of the homeless as a silent and resilient community, communicating through hidden symbols and codes to survive in cities that often ignore their existence. It tells stories of humanity, dignity, and everyday ingenuity, showing how everyone, despite loss and hardship, contributes to protecting and supporting others. It is a hymn to solidarity, shared survival, and the strength of those who continue to walk together even in the shadows.

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Arrows scratched in subway walls point to safe havens

Three matches crossed means "police here at night"

A circle with a line: "dangerous place, stay away"

Our secret alphabet keeps us alive

While you walk past our invisible maps

Drawn in chalk, carved in benches, whispered in shadows

From New York to Beijing

Our language never changes

Hunger speaks in the same tone

Fear shivers in the same corners

We are the scholars of survival

Reading stories written in silence

We know which dumpsters fill with bread at midnight

Which vents blow warm air in December frost

Library bathrooms open earliest

Hospital waiting rooms won't kick you out

These are our textbooks, our survival guide

Passed down in whispers and knowing nods

You see madness in our mumbled conversations

But we're discussing which shelter has beds tonight

You see chaos in our collected things

But each item is a lifeline, carefully chosen

Every cardboard piece is potential shelter

Every bottle cap might buy tomorrow's coffee

At dawn we fold our homes into backpacks

Carry our lives in plastic bags

Some of us were teachers, drivers, nurses

Before the rent climbed higher than our reach

Before prescriptions cost more than food

Before divorce, disease, or disaster struck

From New York to Beijing

Our language never changes

Hunger speaks in the same tone

Fear shivers in the same corners

We are the scholars of survival

Reading stories written in silence

Look closer at the marks we leave

Our sophisticated survival system

Built over centuries of shared suffering

We're not just surviving

We're teaching each other how to live

In a world that pretends not to see us