VERSE 1 I named this work after myself because no one else would survive the dedication. If you have come to watch a queen repent, you will leave hungry. If you have come to watch a woman finish, stay. This is the expensive part. CHORUS Solennia — not mercy, not thunder — a name I wear like a burned-in brand. Solennia — the last law, the last wonder — I write us into a key the dark can stand. VERSE 2 They say the old world crumbled, a whispered prophecy of rust and dust. But I remember the architects, their hands still stained with the blood of trust. They built their towers to touch the sky, then watched them fall, brick by bitter brick. CHORUS Solennia — not mercy, not thunder — a name I wear like a burned-in brand. Solennia — the last law, the last wonder — I write us into a key the dark can stand. VERSE 3 They built their empires on shifting sand, believed their power would never wane. But the desert wind remembers, the way it whispers every name. Now all that's left are echoes, a hollow space where glory reigned. CHORUS Solennia — not mercy, not thunder — a name I wear like a burned-in brand. Solennia — the last law, the last wonder — I write us into a key the dark can stand. (UNACCOMPANIED CADENZA) FINAL VERSE I will not resurrect the Court. I will not bless the machines. I will stand in the wreck and sing until the wreck learns a different name.
