We are the Herd

[INTRO — spoken, low and ceremonial, bone percussion only] The ground remembers what it swallows. The herd does not. [VERSE 1] Edge of the line Where the slow ones run Dust rises up Where the last steps come Eyes don't close When the distance grows The herd has never stopped For what the herd outgrows [PRE-CHORUS] No judgment in the thunder No mercy in the pace The body of the many Has no memory of a face [CHORUS] We are the weight We are the bone We are the breath That carries on The cost of the whole Is paid in blood The weak return to dust and mud WE MOVE / WE BREATHE / WE SURVIVE THE COST OF THE HERD IS THE COST OF LIFE [VERSE 2] Something was here Where the grasses bent Something that mattered Something that went The rhythm continues The pattern holds The herd is the story The herd is the whole [PRE-CHORUS] No judgment in the thunder No mercy in the pace The body of the many Has no memory of a face [CHORUS] We are the weight We are the bone We are the breath That carries on The cost of the whole Is paid in blood The weak return to dust and mud WE MOVE / WE BREATHE / WE SURVIVE THE COST OF THE HERD IS THE COST OF LIFE [BRIDGE — bone percussion only, then tribal drums build back in] There is no cruelty here Only mathematics There is no grief here Only the gap where motion was The grass grows back The ground swallows clean The herd does not remember What the herd has been [CHORUS] We are the weight We are the bone We are the breath That carries on The cost of the whole Is paid in blood The weak return to dust and mud WE MOVE / WE BREATHE / WE SURVIVE THE COST OF THE HERD IS THE COST OF LIFE [OUTRO — spoken, tribal drumbeat decaying under] The ground remembers what it swallows. This is not cruelty. This is not kindness. This is the herd. And the herd does not stop. And the herd does not stop. And the herd—