I pressed my name into cooling iron not to be remembered but to remember why They said a song is only weather breath on a window gone by morning They said a story cannot hold a gate cannot feed the fire cannot lift the fallen But I have watched a broken anthem make a frightened hand stay on the banner I have seen names no crown protected burn through the dark because someone sang them So bring the doubt bring the narrow eyes bring every stone they saved for me I will not build a throne from their silence I will build stairs where the lost can breathe If the last light bends I will not call it ending if the bell cracks open I will call it proof Every wound that spoke became a piece of metal every word I kept became a roof Iron vow strike my name till the silence remembers Iron vow let the hammer learn my sound If the roof comes down let the song be shelter If the bell stays locked let it shake the ground Iron vow weld the names where the rafters are breaking Iron vow raise a roof from the ash What the world calls gone is not always taken when a fire learns a name it comes back If the roof comes down let the song be shelter If the bell stays locked let it shake the ground Iron vow weld the names where the raft- Name it in iron carry it through if no one believes it let the song be true There is a kind of mercy in iron not soft, not kind but honest enough It does not promise the hand will stop shaking it only asks what you do with the blood I carried grief like a sealed letter too heavy to read too holy to throw Then one night thunder opened the hinges and every old sorrow stood up in the glow Not as a wound not as a master not as a chain around my throat But as a chorus rough with survival saying carve deeper or be forgotten whole If the last light bends I will not call it ending if the bell cracks open I will call it proof Every wound that spoke became a piece of metal every word I kept became a roof Iron vow strike my name till the silence remembers Iron vow let the hammer learn my sound If the roof comes down let the song be shelter If the bell stays locked let it shake the ground Iron vow weld the names where the rafters are breaking Iron vow raise a roof from the ash What the world calls gone is not always taken when a fire learns a name it comes back They called it small because it started quiet they called it lost because it would not sell But a seed under stone is not surrender and a locked bell is still a bell Doubt is a hammer not a verdict let it strike and learn the sound If I am only one voice in ruins then one voice still can mark the ground I do not need the world to witness every quiet thing that kept me alive Some roots grow deep under ruined chapels some bells are born from buried knives If no one comes when the night is closing if no one cheers when the black gates swing I will still carve one mark in the iron not for glory for remembering Iron remembers strike after strike doubt is the hammer song is the proof When the roof comes down sing it into shelter name after name till the dark steps back Let them doubt let them doubt let the hammer answer Let them shout let them shout hear the locked bell rise Iron vow strike my name till the silence remembers Iron vow let the hammer learn my sound If the roof comes down let the song be shelter If the bell stays locked let it shake the ground Iron vow weld the names where the rafters are breaking Iron vow raise a roof from the ash What the world calls gone is not always taken when a fire learns a name it comes back Iron vow not a crown and not a grave Iron vow just the shape of what I save When the final bell breaks open above me let it find my voice still striking the flame I pressed my name into cooling iron not to be remembered but to remember why
