Back in ’89, my parents moved
To the States in the hopes that they could boost
My chance at a better life, but being so young
Plus a single child, felt like the only one

In the whole wide world, like nothing could stop me
It’s like my action figures and Nintendo adopted me
Things were so good, I felt like a prince
Cause I’d always turn the music dial up since

My dad had the words and my mom; the rhythm
So storytelling’s always been in my system
They were both artists of their very own
We were all happy in our little home

Then one day my dad had started to spit up
Blood on the concrete, it made us all sit up
We had so many questions but so few answers
We finally found out he had come down with cancer

Hope will never be a four letter word
It’s the only thing we’ve got, when our sights blur
And that’s the truth
It’ll always be what gets us through cause
Hope will never be a four letter word
It’s the only thing we’ve got, when our sights blur
And that’s the truth
It’ll always be what gets us through

So back to the story, we had gone to doctors
My mom’s biggest fear was that I’d be living with fosters
Since the news they got wasn’t what they were expecting
My mom got sick too, this disease was infecting

My whole family from the inside out
Like staring at the ceiling and just needing to shout
“Why is this happening, God?”

But when we need that comfort He becomes that rod

So we prayed and we prayed but my dad didn’t make it
I’d still laugh at school just in order to fake it
Though I was aching cause I saw all of the hurt
My mom was going through plus what made it worse

Is that I was only nine, what was she to do?
In this brand new country with her English not fluid
But the word she knew, she had learned to use it
“Hope” is what she had and all the pain it diffused it

Hope will never be a four letter word
It’s the only thing we’ve got, when our sights blur
And that’s the truth
It’ll always be what gets us through cause
Hope will never be a four letter word
It’s the only thing we’ve got, when our sights blur
And that’s the truth
It’ll always be what gets us through