Alt. 2️⃣ **EDEN PERDITUS** 🜄🌿 (First Peoples)

Genre: Ethereal Gothic Metal, Folk Influences, Harmonic] [Style: Peace, Harmony, Gentle Melancholy, Nature] [Tempo: Slow, 70 BPM, flowing like a river] [Voice 1: Female clean, clear, childlike at times (soprano)] [Voice 2: Male clean, soft, warm, like a storyteller (tenor)] [Voice 3: Choir, light, airy, like the wind] [Instruments: Native American flute, acoustic guitars, harp, light strings, piano, soft percussion (tambourine)] [Effects: Birds singing, stream, wind in the leaves, distant children’s laughter] [Dynamics: Stays soft, but becomes fuller in the chorus] [Duration: 4:00 - 4:30]- [Intro – Birdsong, stream, then Native American flute.] [Verse 1 – narrator Clean male voice, soft, Acoustic guitar, flute.] For three hundred thousand years we lived, With open hands, with nothing to give but thanks. The deer was brother, the river was kin, We took only what we needed, and we gave back within. [Verse 2 – Clean female, clear, bright voice, Harp, light strings.] We danced the seasons, we sang the rain, We honored the spirits, we felt no pain of want. The earth was mother, the sky was father, We were children, and we loved each other. [Chorus – Ensemble, light orchestra, soft, All instruments.] Eden was not a garden lost— It was the way we lived, at no one's cost. We were the first, and we were free, Before the walls, before the kings, before the cruelty. [Bridge – Solo voice, almost a cappella then silence, then choir.] Then came the plow. Then came the fence. Then came the silence. [Final: Flute reprise + nature, birds, stream.] Eden was not a garden lost— It was the way we lived, at no one's cost. We were the first, and we were free, Before the walls, before the kings, before the cruelty. [Outro: solemn spoken, Silence, then a single drumbeat] "Then came the plow"