(Intro) [Instrumental: Distant clang of a heavy cell door slamming. A low, ominous drone fades in. Chains rattle softly. A slow, muffled thump like a heartbeat begins.] (Verse 1) [Vocal: Deep, slow, spoken, with long reverb] Four walls of iron, a slit instead of a sky, The outside world reduced to footsteps passing by. The day is carved in portions – metal tray, metal spoon, Same gray food, same gray light, same gray afternoon. The guard walks past my window, never meets my eyes, Just another breathing number he’s been trained to despise. My shackles scrape the concrete when I pace this tiny square, The echo of my footsteps is the only witness there. (Pre-Chorus) [Vocal: Slight rise, still spoken but more intense] They took my freedom, put my body in this cage, But in my head, the war is written page by page. They hold the keys, but not the part of me that sees, My mind slips through the cracks, beyond their policies. (Chorus) [Vocal: Half-spoken, half-chanted, more resonance] Four walls of iron, but my thoughts won’t kneel, They can bind my hands, but not the way I feel. You can lock my doors, you can seal my fate, But you can’t imprison what you cannot calculate. Four walls of iron, cold and closing tight, Still there’s a place inside that you can’t turn off the light. (Verse 2) [Vocal: Quiet again, almost a whisper] Tin plate on the floor, a blanket thin as air, A number on my uniform, a number in their care. They think that isolation is the final, perfect tool, To make a thinking human crumble into fuel. But silence has a language that they’ll never understand, It amplifies the memories they want to ban. Each hour that they steal from me, each minute that they own, Just proves how much they fear one mind that stands alone. (Instrumental Interlude) [Instrumental: Sparse piano notes echo in the distance, like drops of water. Chains clink once, then fade into the drone. Heartbeat-like sub-bass continues.] (Bridge) [Vocal: Soft, but with steel underneath] I see your watchtowers, your fences, your control, Your cameras on the corners, your paperwork on scroll. You think that bars and badges make your power real, But power built on fear is power built to peel. You can erase my footprints, strike my name from every sheet, But you can’t un-walk the path that led me to your seat. (Chorus) [Vocal: Slightly louder, more resolute, still spoken-chant] Four walls of iron, but my thoughts won’t kneel, They can bind my hands, but not the way I feel. You can lock my doors, you can seal my fate, But you can’t imprison what you cannot calculate. Four walls of iron, cold and closing tight, Still there’s a place inside that you can’t turn off the light. (Outro) [Instrumental: Drone lowers in pitch, heartbeat slows. Distant footsteps fade. A final cell-door clang echoes, then decays into silence.] [Vocal: Last line, barely more than breath] In here… I’m still free.
