The Armistice

The sky is on my shoulders, yeah, I know, I know, I know
The fire's in the engine room, a hundred floors below
The wolves are at the border, and the ghosts are at the gate
And every single messenger is screaming that it's late
They say the walls are falling, and the kingdom is at stake
They tell me all the promises a good man cannot break
I've heard the sirens screaming for a thousand nights and days
Lost inside the brutal and the unforgiving maze

But the king upon this broken throne has learned a single trick
That a man who's burning out will burn out twice as quick
If he forgets the single law that keeps his soul alive
The sacred, sovereign, and the holy right to just survive...

So I'm declaring an armistice, a treaty with the pain
I'm laying down my hammer in the middle of the rain
This isn't a surrender, it's not a white flag that I fly
It's just the quiet, holy right to look up at the sky
And say "not now," and say "not me," and say "I will not run"
I'm just a king who's claiming back a single ray of sun
This is the armistice

The battle will be waiting, yeah, I know, I know it's true
There will always be another, more important thing to do
Another fire to put out, another wound to bind
Another piece of my own soul I have to leave behind
But I have bled enough for gods who never knew my name
And I refuse to be a martyr for their stupid, broken game
So let the phone keep ringing, let the whole world hold its breath
I'm choosing thirty minutes over a heroic death

'Cause the king upon this broken throne has learned a single trick
That a man who's burning out will burn out twice as quick
If he forgets the single law that keeps his soul alive
The sacred, sovereign, and the holy right to just survive...

So I'm declaring an armistice, a treaty with the pain
I'm laying down my hammer in the middle of the rain
This isn't a surrender, it's not a white flag that I fly
It's just the quiet, holy right to look up at the sky
And say "not now," and say "not me," and say "I will not run"
I'm just a king who's claiming back a single ray of sun
This is the armistice

My strength is not a public well, for any fool to drink
It is a quiet, hidden spring upon a mortal brink
And I will guard it with my life, this single, sacred place
The quiet in the middle of this long and losing race

So I'm declaring an armistice, a treaty with the pain
I'm laying down my hammer in the middle of the rain
This isn't a surrender, it's not a white flag that I fly
It's just the quiet, holy right to look up at the sky
And say "not now," and say "not me," and say "I will not run"
I'm just a king who's claiming back a single ray of sun
This is the armistice

Just a moment
It's mine