A Hymn for the Eagle
Prometheus gave people fire and got punished for it every single day. I know that feeling. This song is me deciding that whatever gets taken from me each morning, it doesn't get my voice.
The sun crawls up the eastern ridge, another day begins
Another perfect, calculated payment for my sins
I hear the shadow in the sky, the beating of the wings
The only true and honest friend the universe still brings
He doesn't offer pity, and he doesn't tell a lie
He only comes to ask me for the piece of me that dies
And I have learned his language, and I have learned his name
The brutal, perfect logic of this old and stupid game
So come on, brother eagle, and take what you are owed
It's just another pound of flesh on this long and lonely road
You think this chain's a punishment, you think this rock's a cage
You think you're just the period at the end of a sad page
But I have found a freedom that your gods can never know
My soul is not the liver that I'm forced to let you show
It is the song I sing to you, a hymn of fire and bone
The truest king is still the king, even on a broken throne
The world is full of ghosts that whisper what I should have been
The hollow, sad refrains of "if" and "only" and "back when"
They offer their salvation, a comfortable and quiet lie
A smaller, safer version of a man who's meant to fly
But you, my friend, you ask for just the truth that's in my chest
The bleeding, vital organ that has never been at rest
You are the only one who sees the fire I hold inside
The one who knows I have no other place to run or hide
So come on, brother eagle, and take what you are owed
It's just another pound of flesh on this long and lonely road
You think this chain's a punishment, you think this rock's a cage
You think you're just the period at the end of a sad page
But I have found a freedom that your gods can never know
My soul is not the liver that I'm forced to let you show
It is the song I sing to you, a hymn of fire and bone
The truest king is still the king, even on a broken throne
And in the quiet moments, when you've had your bloody fill
And I am left here, healing, on this cold and lonely hill
I look upon the universe, the endless, empty black
And I would not, for all their heavens, ever take it back
This pain is mine, this fight is mine, this wound is mine to keep
A secret and a treasure in the silence of the deep
So come on, brother eagle, and take what you are owed
It's just another pound of flesh on this long and lonely road
You think this chain's a punishment, you think this rock's a cage
You think you're just the period at the end of a sad page
But I have found a freedom that your gods can never know
My soul is not the liver that I'm forced to let you show
It is the song I sing to you, a hymn of fire and bone
The truest king is still the king, even on a broken throne
It's a beautiful defiance.