Love Became Law

[Verse 1] I did not raise my voice I did not curse the sky I watched the pyres answer each time they asked me why One son to the spear line one son to the flame one son with his eyes open trying to say my name [Verse 2] There are rooms inside a father where no living child should go There are doors I sealed with iron so the grief would never show I kept my hands from shaking I kept my judgment clear And every time I buried one I buried mercy there [Pre-Chorus] Do not call it madness Do not call it pride I loved them past forgiveness I loved what could not survive When the world takes sons like tribute when the dead become the proof Then love must learn the language of the blade and not the truth [Chorus] Love became law grief became command I held a child before me and made iron of her hands Duty took the morning Duty took the flame I gave her all my ruin and called her by her name [Verse 3] Ulisin stood silent with the dust upon her knees Too young to know the bargain Too proud to beg me please I saw the fear inside her I saw the fire too And I fed them both with lessons until the fear withdrew [Verse 4] I did not want a daughter who would vanish into song I did not want a child that the world could prove me wrong So I built a wall around her with discipline and pain And told myself the prison was shelter from the rain [Pre-Chorus] Do not speak of tenderness Tenderness is bone Softness is a doorway for death to enter home If I made her colder than the winter on the sand It was only that I loved her with a ruin in my hand [Chorus] Love became law grief became command I held a child before me and made iron of her hands Duty took the morning Duty took the flame I gave her all my ruin and called her by her name [Bridge] There is rage beneath the quiet There is fire under stone There are ghosts behind my eyelids and they never leave me alone They say, make her stronger They say, make her survive They say, if love had been enough then we would be alive [Breakdown] [Low Male Chorus] One by one the sons were taken One by one the vows awakened [Female Echo] Ulisin little blade Ulisin what was made [Low Male Chorus] One by one the pyres were burning One by one the father turning [Verse 5] Now she walks like judgment Now she speaks like winter rain Every warlord lowers his eyes before I say her name And when I see her standing black as blood and bright as war I wonder what I saved her from and what I saved her for [Final Chorus] Love became law grief became command I held a child before me and made iron of her hands Duty took the morning Duty took the flame I gave her all my ruin and called her by her name Love became law and law became a throne I taught her how to conquer I left her there alone If the dead require payment let the living understand I loved her like a kingdom and destroyed her like a man [Outro] There is no soft ending There is no clean dawn Only what I made of her and what I called it for Ulisin my child, my blade Love became law and love obeyed