PIECES OF THE JESTER LOKIWIZZ [INTRO | SPOKEN] Practice... don't preach. Proceed... then conceive. Funny thing about a mask... You wear it to fool the room. Keep it on long enough, and the room starts fooling you. [VERSE 1] He wears a grin like ceremonial armor, Wins over the room while the wounds grow darker. Every laugh gets louder, every fracture gets larger, The joke became the jailer, the Jester its charter. The Jester joined the Jaded, Smile still painted, soul degraded. Everybody loved the character, Nobody questioned what the character shielded. A mask ain't evil, sometimes it's survival, A little misdirection when the world turns hostile. But wear it too long and the lines start shifting, Can't tell who's pretending when the act goes missing. Peace comes in pieces when the past gets active, A troubled mind sought silence, but the silence turned savage. Applause becomes oxygen, silence suffocation, Validation demands daily demonstrations. [HOOK] Pieces of mind, pieces of me, Break it apart, tell me what you see. Pieces of mind, scattered debris, Who put the cracks in the things I believed? Pieces of mind, lost in the deep, Some things awake when you try to sleep. Pieces of mind I couldn't keep, Now I haunt the ghost that used to be me. [VERSE 2] So the Jester performs, then performs some more, Till the bells become chains and the chains become law. He laughs through the funeral, then takes another bow, The crowd can't tell the hurt from the show now. The King leaned back, said, "Why so serious?" The Jester replied, "Your Majesty, hilarious. You built your whole kingdom on appearing superior, Then blame the reflection when the truth gets clearer." The court went quiet, the King kept smiling, Tyrants hate mirrors, but they love good lighting. "Your rebellion isn't wisdom," the monarch declared. "Neither is a throne you inherited." Cold halls, closed doors, corrosive little creeds, They baptize the damage, then bill you for the bleach. Velvet invitations, veiled initiations, Golden goals, gilded cages, generations in attendance. [HOOK] Pieces of mind, pieces of me, Break it apart, tell me what you see. Pieces of mind, scattered debris, Who put the cracks in the things I believed? Pieces of mind, lost in the deep, Some things awake when you try to sleep. Pieces of mind I couldn't keep, Now I haunt the ghost that used to be me. [VERSE 3 | BUILDING] Then something shifted, the bells sounded different, The throne looked smaller, the crown more expensive. The masks looked identical, the room looked familiar, And the Jester saw himself in the King's reflection. Truth turned inward, struck the center, He'd spent his whole life condemning pretenders. Hated the King, but coveted attention, Mocked his obsession with power and perception. Was he breaking the system or begging to own it? Was the joke an escape, or a way to conceal it? The King wore a crown, the Jester wore bells, Different decorations, same private hell. One needed obedience, one needed approval, Both built an identity they couldn't remove. I've been the skeptic and the one deceived, The mask I exposed was the mask I received. [VERSE 4 | DOUBLE-TIME] Sacred symbols sold for cents, Heaven bent to pay the rent. Karma keeps the correspondence, Every debt has consequences. Rotten roots beneath the throne, Kings make kingdoms out of bones. Truth gets buried, seeds get sown, Funny how the harvest grows. Add the pain, subtract the patience, Divide the soul by expectations. What's the sum? A new equation, Panic wearing meditation. Eyes wide open, can't unsee, What's concealed in plain decree. They offer chains with guarantees, Then call it choice if you agree. Free your mind or bend the knee, Pick your poison, pay the fee. But don't mistake the lock for key, Or call it freedom just because you hold the key. [FINAL HOOK | STRIPPED, THEN BUILDING] Pieces of mind, pieces of me, Break it apart, tell me what you see. Pieces of mind, scattered debris, Who put the cracks in the things I believed? Pieces of mind, lost in the deep, Some things awake when you try to sleep. Pieces of mind I couldn't keep, Now I haunt the ghost that used to be me. [OUTRO | WHISPER] The King had a mirror. The Jester had one too. The difference? The King refused to look. The Jester finally did. Pieces... Of me?
