Crabs in a Bucket

Listen close, hear the claws in the dark, Not the sea — just a pit for the stuck and the marked. We were born on the edge of the tide, Salt on our lips, iron sky open wide. Every one of us dreamed of the rim, But the rim is a myth when you're stuck with the swarm. One climbs up — the rest grab and pull, Not out of hate, just a habit so cruel. Claw against claw, calling it kin, While the truth is a cage we keep locked from within. Somebody's pulling up, somebody's pulling down, Can't tell the ceiling from the edge of the ground. Crabs in a bucket, crabs in a bucket, We burn our own wings before we can fly it. One step toward the light and they cling to your feet, Crabs in a bucket — a cage made of belief. But I'll open my claw, I'll open my claw, I'll choose the sky over the war in the straw. A philosopher down there once told a young crab, "Freedom's not strength — it's the choice you don't grab." Why drag your brother to the floor where you stand, When you both could crawl out, side by side, hand in hand? But fear is the smarter one, fear plays it slow, It whispers: "let everyone carry their own." So we echo the scripts we were never asked to write, Forgetting the sky has no edges, no height. Somebody's pulling up, somebody's pulling down, But the exit's not there where you're always sliding down. Crabs in a bucket, crabs in the fog, We're the leash and the guard on our own harder walk. One step outside and the chorus screams loud: "Where do you think you're going without us, without the crowd?" But I'll open my claw, I'll tear through this thread, I don't wanna live in this shell 'til I'm dead. What if we don't pull? What if we let go? What if we just help Each other find the door? Then it's not a pit, then it's a launch, Then we rise together, not alone on our own. Crabs in a bucket — it was, not anymore, We opened our claws, we don't hide, we don't war. The sky's not divided, the sky's for us all, And the one who got out reaches back for the fall. We'll open our claws, we'll open our claws, We'll choose the sky over the war in the straw! Listen close, hear the silence now grow, The bucket stands empty, the moon hangs low.