Ashes Learn to Dance

[Intro] We came up barefoot out the black dirt night Smoke in our lungs, still singing like light Old ghosts circled, teeth in the wind But we beat that drum in the ribs again I know that silence, I wore that crown I know the kind that drags men down Still the fire talked in a language plain: Lose what’s false, let the soul remain [Verse 1] My people got scars like maps in stone Every cracked line saying, “Make it home” Every hard lesson got passed by hand Like water, like warning, like grain in sand I was raised where the truth don’t beg Where pain stands up on its own two legs Where love ain’t loud, but it never leaves It hides in sweat and in rolled-up sleeves I heard the dark say, “Bow to fear” Heard pretty lies whisper sweet in my ear But the blood remembers what the mouth forgets We survive storms some hearts ain’t met Face paint made out of loss and grace War in the chest, but calm in the face I don’t move for the crowd or trend I move like the old ways don’t quite end [Pre-Chorus] So if the night wants my name Tell it come speak it clean I’ve been buried before Now I rise mean and serene [Chorus] We dance where the ashes fall We sing when the gods go still We love through the knife of it all Through hunger, through heat, through will Call my spirit back from the edge Call my bones back into line I was not made to fade in fear I was made to survive the fire [Verse 2] There’s a sweetness too in the savage ground In the child still laughing when doom rolls round In the woman praying with iron eyes In the man who breaks but never lies I seen the feast and the famine both Seen hollow kings and their paper oaths Seen gold chains shine on an empty soul That shine means nothing if the core ain’t whole I got dead weight speaking death in code Trying to sell me a pretty road But I know better, I know the game A polished mask is a borrowed name So I keep one hand on the ancient thread One on the future we haven’t bled And I walk that line with a careful grin Half holy smoke, half feral skin [Pre-Chorus] If the dark wants in my chest It better earn that seat I’ve made peace with grief Now grief makes me deep [Chorus] We dance where the ashes fall We sing when the gods go still We love through the knife of it all Through hunger, through heat, through will Call my spirit back from the edge Call my bones back into line I was not made to fade in fear I was made to survive the fire [Bridge] Low voices under the earth say wait Not every closed door is hate Not every wound means end Some breaks are where we bend And listen The lost ones hum in the trees at dusk The future smells like rain and rust The heart’s a blade if you sharpen it right The heart’s a lamp if you guard its light So let the pretty world play dead We’ve still got truth and daily bread Still got names our elders gave Still got songs that outlive graves I won’t sell my soul for a softer lie Won’t dress despair up, call it wise No, hope’s not weak, it’s a harder art It’s carrying dawn in a ruined heart [Final Chorus] We dance where the ashes fall We sing when the sky feels tired We hold what is holy through it all And walk straight through the fire Call my spirit back from the edge Call my bones back into line I was not made to fade in fear I was made to become the fire [Outro] Bare feet, burnt earth, morning near Still here Still here Still here And the ashes learn to dance