Dead to the World I woke beneath a colorless sky with the taste of the night on my tongue every window reflected a stranger every bell sounded distant and wrong The streets were awake without meaning the houses were breathing like graves and every face that passed me in silence looked hollow, forgotten, and drained I walked where the old shadows gathered past doors that had never been mine past voices that called from the darkness but vanished whenever I turned There was no warmth in the morning no promise beneath the pale sun only the weight of a world still turning while I stood where the living had run Dead to the world but the world is not dead to me Dead to the world still I hear what I should not hear Dead to the world with the night wrapped around my soul Dead to the world but I cannot disappear The clock kept counting the hours like a sentence carved into stone I watched every second fall slowly and learned how to breathe on my own The city was roaring around me but nothing could enter my skin I saw all the lights in the distance and felt no desire to go in A thousand forgotten faces were moving like ghosts through the rain They carried their names like possessions and wore all their sorrow like chains I wondered if anyone noticed how close the silence could come how a heart can continue beating long after it feels it is done Dead to the world but the world is not dead to me Dead to the world still I hear what I should not hear Dead to the world with the night wrapped around my soul Dead to the world but I cannot disappear Then somewhere beyond the rooftops a single black bird took flight It crossed through the dying horizon and vanished into the night No angel came down to save me no voice said the suffering ends but something inside me was moving like fire returning again I remembered the hands of the people who once made the darkness feel small I remembered the sound of their laughter and the warmth behind every call I remembered the roads I had traveled the wounds that had taught me to stand and somewhere beneath all the ashes I still had a world in my hands So let the cold wind surround me let the empty streets call my name I have walked through the silence of winter and I have survived without shame I will not become what they buried I will not dissolve in the grey If the night wants to claim what is left here it will have to fight for the day Dead to the world but the world is not dead to me Dead to the world now I hear what I could not hear Dead to the world and the night cannot swallow my soul Dead to the world but I am still here The sky began changing above me from black into bruised shades of blue The first light appeared on the rooftops and showed me what darkness could do It did not erase what had happened it did not make everything new but dawn does not ask for permission it simply comes breaking through I walked toward the edge of the morning with shadows still under my eyes No victory waited before me no choir was filling the skies Just one more step and another just breath and the sound of my feet And for the first time in ages the silence no longer felt complete Dead to the world but the world is not dead to me Dead to the world and I carry the night with me Dead to the world yet the blood still remembers its call Dead to the world I am not gone at all Let the bells ring over the ruins let the old towers tremble and fall Let the names of the lost be remembered let the darkness be honest with all I have stared into endless distances and returned with my eyes open wide I know there are nights without mercy but I know there is still a sunrise Dead to the world but never beyond its reach Dead to the world there are things the silence cannot teach Dead to the world with the scars of the night in my soul Dead to the world still I refuse to let go And when the last light is fading and the whole world is turning away I will stand where the shadows are deepest and wait for the birth of the day Not because I have conquered the darkness not because I have nothing to fear But because after all of the silence I finally remember why I am here Dead to the world but the world is not dead to me Dead to the world and the darkness will never own me Dead to the world hear the distant horizon call Dead to the world I am still here I am still here I am not gone at all The night may return with its armies and cover the streets once again It may bring back the cold empty voices and whisper the names of the dead But I have learned something in silence that no crowded room ever knew A soul can be buried in darkness and still find a way to break through So let every locked door remember that nothing remains sealed forever Let every abandoned cathedral hear footsteps returning again Let every forgotten horizon keep one little star in its flame For even the heart that feels distant can answer the call.
