[start] [Intro: Sparse piano motif, single-note bass phrases, distant reverb tail — establishing tension] [Atmospheric guitar textures swell like wind through ruins] [Verse 1 – slow, staggered delivery with long vocal rests] Marble floors now freeze my feet, Gold leaf crumbles, obsolete. She sleeps in mansions overseas, Distance is the only thing that’s free. [Brief instrumental breath — low strings and guitar delay pulse in counter-rhythm] [Verse 2 – expanded phrasing, heavy dynamics swell mid-line] My son looked up with desperate eyes, “Dad, is any of this real?” he cried. I hid behind the verses we rehearsed, Something in him broke — something worse. [Short instrumental bridge: piano holds a suspended chord; bass answers melodically] [Chorus – phrased like a slow rise, each line widening dynamically] Cracks spreading through the golden base, A room I cannot bear to face. Empire stretches endlessly, But my son is gone — he took the truth from me. [Post-chorus instrumental: strings ascend, drums bloom into triplet tom phrasing, guitar feedback drone] [Bridge – restrained first half, explosive second half mirroring “Oxyrhynchus”’ tension arc] Built a kingdom out of fear, Sold salvation year by year. The one who really knew me well, Couldn’t live inside this hell. [Crescendo: orchestral surge, driving bass run, rhythmic snare echoing heartbeat] [Outro – fragmented delivery, fading into isolated piano] Holding his note with shaking hands, “Couldn’t live the lie,” I understand. Prophet of the end times couldn’t save his son, All my power weighs a ton. Standing in the wreckage I can’t mend. [Instrumental end: bowed guitar, tremolo strings, sub-bass decay into silence] [end]
