When kites fly
Youmaih 2026

[Vers 1]
I learned to love by learning to let out the line 
watching you rise while my feet stayed behind
Mama  said, “Hold it loose, let the wind do its work”
If you grip too tight, baby, something’s gonna hurt

See, I’ve been that kite, tangled up in the trees
And I’ve been those hands, 
shaking, down on my knees
But somewhere between the ground and the blue
there’s a thread that connects 
what I am to what’s you

[PRE-CHORUS 1]
We don’t have to fall to know what it means to be free

[Chorus 1]
When kites fly, we remember what we knew 
before we hit the ground 
the sky was never some where else
just waiting to be found

When kites fly, we’re connected by the thread 
we can not see
You can rise, I’ll hold the string
You can go and still be me

 [Vers 2]
I think about the kids in Ahmedabad at dawn 
Rooftops full of color before the sun is gone
and the boys in Kabul with their fighter kites 
same sky, same wind, same beautiful fights

In São Paulo they chase them through the streets
In Yokohama they paint them, ancestors to meet 
Different hands, different lands, but when they look up 
 they all see the same thing — love is enough

[PRE-CHORUS 2 warm, grounded, slides swell underneath]
We don’t have to hold on to know what it means to be home

[Chorus 2]
When kites fly, we remember what we knew 
before we hit the ground 
the sky was never some where else
just waiting to be found

When kites fly, we’re connected by the thread 
we can not see
You can rise, I’ll hold the string
You can go and still be me

[BRIDGE]
Gujarat… Kabul… Rio…Yokohama… Cape Town… Cairo…
Every child who ever ran with paper dancing in their hand knew something we forget…The sky belongs to all of us yet
[Sound design: Layers of children’s laughter from different cultures, wind, kite flutter]

[BREAKDOWN]
You know what I love about a kite? It only flies because you’re willing to let it go far enough to catch the wind. 
But you never let go of that string. That’s what love is. Distance with devotion. Freedom.

[CHORUS]
When kites fly, we remember what we knew 
before we hit the ground 
the sky was never some where else
just waiting to be found

When kites fly, we’re connected by the thread 
we can not see
You can rise, I’ll hold the string
You can go and still be me

[Outro]
When kites fly…When kites fly…
You can go… you can go…And still be home…