The Human Cost
The Human Cost is First Light's most unflinching tribute — a dignified and deeply felt acknowledgement of the professionals who absorb society's trauma on our behalf. Paramedics, firefighters, police officers, social workers, mental health professionals — those who run toward what everyone else runs away from.
The song moves through three distinct worlds — the visceral emergency frontline, the quieter hidden trauma of care work, and finally the bitter injustice of a system that hunts the very people who serve it.
“There is no shield for this darkness / No training for the truth” — a pre-chorus that applies equally to every verse and every profession represented. A song written with gratitude, anger and deep respect.
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Sonus Lucis — The Human Cost
Verse 1
A hero meets a new ghost
On the field of destiny
Just one more soul lost
In the aftermath of pain
Pre-Chorus
There is no shield for this darkness
No training for the truth
Chorus
They run the gamut of fate's gamble
Turn the lights off in their eyes
They shield us from these horrors
The human cost reveals
Verse 2
Dealing with an underworld
Of anger and confusion
Angels bring the balance back
To troubled minds and moments
Pre-Chorus
There is no shield for this darkness
No training for the truth
Chorus
They run the gamut of fate's gamble
Turn the lights off in their eyes
They shield us from these horrors
The human cost reveals
Verse 3
Risk their sanity for others
Bear what we can't bear
Yet still the system hunts them
There's injustice on the scales
Pre-Chorus
There is no shield for this darkness
No training for the truth
Chorus
They run the gamut of fate's gamble
Turn the lights off in their eyes
They shield us from these horrors
The human cost reveals
Bridge
These people are among us, family or friends
Easily forgotten after traumas end
Their victories unwritten, failures set in stone
Standing at the edge for us whenever darkness falls
Chorus
They run the gamut of fate's gamble
Turn the lights off in their eyes
They shield us from these horrors
The human cost reveals
They run the gamut of fate's gamble
Turn the lights off in their eyes
They shield us from these horrors
The human cost reveals