[Opening Chorus] Long ago In a land beneath the sun Long ago When the harvest had begun Hands in the soil Eyes to the sky We worked the fields Just to survive Long ago Or so the old tales say But listen close The voices never fade away [Verse 1] The rice is in the storehouse But the village fields are bare We bend beneath the burden While the lords collect their share Hands are cracked from working Still the debt keeps growing tall We give them what the earth provides And still we have so small Year after year We bow our heads And pray the crops survive But when the harvest comes around We barely stay alive They call it law They call it order They call it what must be But tell me who made all these rules And who made them for me? [Chorus] HEAR US SEE US WE ARE STILL HERE STAND UP SPEAK UP MAKE THE TRUTH CLEAR WHAT YOU TAKE WHAT YOU BREAK WE REMEMBER WE ARE THE HANDS THAT FEED THE LAND [Verse 2] One voice disappears Like a whisper in the rain But a thousand voices rising Sound like thunder through the plain No sword upon our shoulders No armor on our skin Just the strength of standing together And refusing to give in They may call us troublemakers They may call us disloyal But every stone was carried By the hands that worked this soil If justice has a doorway Then we will find the gate If silence is the price they want Then silence comes too late We are not asking for a kingdom We are asking to survive For the right to keep the fruit Of the work that keeps us alive [Chorus] HEAR US SEE US WE ARE STILL HERE STAND UP SPEAK UP MAKE THE TRUTH CLEAR WHAT YOU TAKE WHAT YOU BREAK WE REMEMBER WE ARE THE HANDS THAT FEED THE LAND [Verse 3] Centuries pass The banners change The walls are built anew The fields become factories The rules become brand new The robes become the suits The harvest becomes the wage The village becomes a workforce And the ledger turns the page New machines New cities New names upon the door But somewhere in the system Someone still demands more Who makes the rules? Who gets the harvest? Who decides what's fair? Who owns the work? Who owns the future? Who gets to take the share? Maybe we've changed our language Maybe we've changed our tools Maybe we've built a thousand ways To make a thousand rules But if one hand holds the power And another does the work Then maybe all these centuries Have only changed the world [Final Chorus] HEAR US SEE US WE ARE STILL HERE STAND UP SPEAK UP MAKE THE TRUTH CLEAR WHAT YOU TAKE WHAT YOU BREAK WE REMEMBER FROM THE FIELDS TO THE CITIES THE QUESTION STILL REMAINS [Outro] Long ago Or so the old tales say The years have changed. The names have changed. The world has changed. But who works? Who takes? Who decides? Long ago... Or is it now? [Background] Japan, late 16th century. Long before the Edo period, when the land was ruled by lords and the fields were worked by hand... This is a story of the people who had nothing left to give.
