BEFORE THE THOUGHT [Intro — Male, quiet] Before the name. Before the face. Before the first idea of me. [Verse 1 — Male Rap] I long for the sight of my face before birth, Before I was measured and placed on the earth. Before every mirror convinced me it knew The shape of the stranger I learned to call “you.” Before there was history, failure or fame, Before someone pointed and gave me a name. Before I inherited fear from the crowd, Before inner silence was buried by sound. I don’t want another belief I can borrow, Another bright promise delivered tomorrow. I’m searching beneath what the thinking mind taught For the sound of the silence before the first thought. [Pre-Chorus — Female] Take away the body. Take away the name. Take away the story— Tell me what remains. [Chorus — Female] Show me my face Before I was born. Let me hear silence Before thought took form. I remember without memory, I know without knowing. Something beneath me Has always been flowing. I don’t need an answer For everything I’ve sought— I long for the silence Before the thought. [Verse 2 — Male Rap] The face before birth isn’t eyes, skin or bone. It never had features and never grew old. Pure observation before it was pressed Into time, into language, identity, flesh. And silence was never an empty abyss. It carried all sound without speaking of it. Not empty like nothing, abandoned and cold— Empty like a womb with a world still unformed. The masters called it the original face. Rumi saw the Beloved in that nameless place. Science finds fields underneath what appears, While something within me just whispers, “You’re near.” [Pre-Chorus — Female] Take away the future. Take away the past. What was there before me? What will remain last? [Chorus — Female] Show me my face Before I was born. Let me hear silence Before thought took form. I remember without memory, I know without knowing. Something beneath me Has always been flowing. I don’t need an answer For everything I’ve sought— I long for the silence Before the thought. [Bridge — Male Rap] Maybe the longing is not an affliction. Maybe the ache is a kind of direction. Maybe the wound is a window inside, Pointing beyond every mask I provide. Not proof of a heaven. Not faith in a throne. Just something familiar that feels like home. Not remembered in pictures. Not written in thought. A truth that goes missing The moment it’s caught. [Break — Female, soft] Before the question… Before the reply… Before I was living… Before I could die… [Final Chorus — Female with Male Underscore] Show me my face Before I was born. Let me hear silence Before thought took form. I remember without memory, I know without knowing. Something beneath me Has always been flowing. No doctrine can hold it. No language can say What waits in the silence Before thought gets in the way. [Outro — Male] I came looking for something I somehow forgot— And found myself listening Before the thought.
