Of Leisure, and the Tyranny of Time [Nordic Discord Challenge]

[Instrumental intro] [Verse I] At last, the chains of duty fall away, The ledger closed, the working hours slain. The sun declares a season meant for joy, Yet I awake with nothing to employ. The days lie open, endless, wide and still, A promised feast that fails to sate the will. [Pre-Chorus] For I am free — yet strangely unfulfilled, Unburdened now, yet quietly distempered. [Chorus] Oh, cruel abundance of unclaimed hours, A gilded cage adorned with summer flowers. I chase distraction, ever out of reach, A sermon preached with nothing left to teach. The world outside still hums its joyful song, While I remain, unmoving, all day long. [Instrumental] [Verse II] I wander rooms already known too well, Each corner tells a tale I cannot sell. I press the keys, I scroll, I stare, I wait, As minutes pass in dignified stagnate. The air is warm, the sky a vivid blue, Yet none of it appears to call me through. [Bridge] Is meaning forged by labor and by strain? Or does it rot when purpose breaks its chain? If rest be earned through years of faithful toil, Why does it taste of emptiness and spoil? Perhaps the fault resides not in the days — But in the soul that fails to set ablaze. [Instrumental] [Chorus] Oh, cruel abundance of unclaimed hours, A gilded cage adorned with summer flowers. I chase distraction, ever out of reach, A sermon preached with nothing left to teach. The world outside still hums its joyful song, While I remain, unmoving, all day long. [Instrumental] [Verse III] Another morning greets me just the same, No rise, no fall, no victory, no shame. The calendar advances without care, Yet I stand fixed, as though I’m anchored there. My coffee cools beside a silent thought, Of all the wonders freedom never brought. [Verse IV] The hours blur to one continuous tone, A summer spent entirely alone. No crisis calls, no battles must be fought, No urgent need demands a deeper thought. A life so calm it borders on absurd, A scream unspoken, comfortably unheard. [Instrumental] [Pre-Chorus] For I am free — and therein lies the snare, A boundless void disguised as gentle air. [Chorus] Oh, cruel abundance of unclaimed hours, A gilded cage adorned with summer flowers. I chase distraction, ever out of reach, A sermon preached with nothing left to teach. The world outside still hums its joyful song, While I remain, unmoving, all day long. [Instrumental] [Outro] And thus the season passes, warm and bright, Leaving no wound — yet offering no light. No tale to tell, no loss, no gain, no plea, Save this: I had the time… and time had me.