War God of the Savanah

[INTRO — spoken, deep reverb, single war drum underneath] [male] I was here before the first spear. Before the first name given to blood. I do not choose the warrior. I choose the wound. [VERSE 1] [male] Rise from the red dust, children of iron I have called the storm and the storm has answered Your fathers poured blood into this ground And the ground remembered every drop The hyena laughs — it knows what is coming The vulture circles before the falling I gave you the hunger, I gave you the heat I gave you everything but the mercy to keep it [PRE-CHORUS] [male] Paint your face in ash and ochre Name the enemy before the sun moves I am in the drumbeat I am in the breathing I am the space between your heartbeats [CHORUS] [male] Come — the war waits for no god Come — I will light the horizon Come — the earth drinks what the sky cannot hold Come — before the silence claims you [VERSE 2] [male] Your enemies stand in the tall grass shaking Their warriors pray to a god who is sleeping But I do not sleep — I watch the migration I count the hoofbeats, I count the breathing You think this war is yours to decide You think the blood-price is one you can name I was old when your ancestors discovered fire I will be older when the ashes go cold [PRE-CHORUS] [male] Mark the cattle, mark the borders Mark the faces of the ones beside you I am in the drumbeat I am in the breathing I am the thing that moves before the moving [CHORUS] [male] Come — the war waits for no god Come — I will light the horizon Come — the earth drinks what the sky cannot hold Come — before the silence claims you [BRIDGE — brass drops to single low note, drums reduce to heartbeat pulse, flutes go discordant] [male] You fought well, little fires. You always do. But warriors are such… temporary things. The real army does not carry spears. It carries teeth. And it has been listening to me since before your grandfathers learned to run. [OUTRO — drums shift to deep animal syncopation, guitars decay into open savannah ambience, chanting fades beneath distant animal sound] [male] Lion. Buffalo. Elephant. Crocodile. I have been speaking to you all along. You thought the blessing was for them. The blessing was never for them. Rise.