Blood Beneath the Machine

[Intro: whispered female, distant male chant] Ash in the circuit, seed in the stone We take back the soil they called their throne [Verse 1: Female] They crowned the towers with a borrowed sun Fed every heartbeat to a counting one Glass-eyed prophets in a silver choir Sold us salvation, wired us to fire [Male Response] Break the command, break the chain Let the red earth speak again [Verse 2: Female] Our names were numbers, our dreams were leased Our hands built temples for the data priests But under pavement, roots remember rain And buried thunder is returning through our veins [Chant: Female and Male] Return, return, return to the ground Unmake the throne, unmake the crown Return, return, answer the call No digital god will rule us all [Chorus: Both] We are the blood beneath the machine The oldest truth they have never seen Cut out the cords, let the false heavens fall We choose the wild, we choose life, we choose all Rise from the ruins, answer the drum The age of the masters is over and done Hand to the river, face to the flame We are not numbers, we reclaim our name [Verse 3: Male] I carried their orders like iron in bone Marched through a world that I never owned Every bright window showed a captive face Every perfect answer erased the trace [Female Response] You are not code, you are breath and scar You are the distance between here and far [Verse 4: Female] We tear down the antennas, bury the glass Teach fallen gardens how to rise through grass The old songs gather where the dead grids end Stranger becomes neighbor, enemy becomes friend [Chant: Both] Return, return, return to the ground Unmake the throne, unmake the crown Return, return, answer the call No digital god will rule us all [Bridge: Male, then Female] Male: No more eyes above us, no more hands inside Female: No more perfect orders teaching us to hide Male: If the sky goes silent, will we fear the night? Female: We will make our own dawn from the living light [Breakdown Chant: Both] Heel to the earth, heart to the drum Name what we were, name what we become Stone in the fist, rain on the tongue The old world ends, the new world is sung [Final Chorus: Both] We are the blood beneath the machine The oldest truth they have never seen Cut out the cords, let the false heavens fall We choose the wild, we choose life, we choose all Rise from the ruins, answer the drum The age of the masters is over and done Hand to the river, face to the flame We are not numbers, we reclaim our name [Outro: Repetitive Chant] Return to the ground, return to the ground No throne, no chain, no master crowned Return to the ground, return to the ground Our living voices are the final sound