[Distant young boy — alone] Come... scream to meeee... Tell me everything decaying underneath... I’ll reflect it back with a light inside the deep— smiling... with a horrifying elegance... [Radio static — marching beneath] You’ll recognize, deep underneath, the one we all see— but keep denying... [Verse 1 — young boy] They drew a line across the earth, then taught us which side had more worth. Placed a flag inside our hands before we learned to understand. They called the frightened enemy, said they were nothing like you and me— but every soldier in the smoke cried for the same familiar home. [Adult shadow voice] Don’t look beneath... Just march your feet... [Pre-Chorus — two boys, distant] Who made the weapon? Who named the beast? Who buried mercy to purchase peace? [Chorus — boys’ choir with industrial drums] Come—scream it to meeee! Tell me what is rotting underneath! The face across the battlefield is wearing the same grief! We keep feeding war the children it will eat— while every side is praying to the same collapsing peace. The horror isn’t them... The horror isn’t me... It’s the line we keep defending between humanity. [Verse 2 — lone boy, music box] Mother, does their mother cry when thunder tears apart the sky? Father, does their father shake when someone reads another name? If both sides beg for morning, if both sides bleed beneath— then why do we keep killing for a piece of what means peace? [Spoken soldiers — left and right] “They started it.” “They made us choose.” “We had no choice.” “We couldn’t lose.” [Boy — whispered] You sound the same... [Breakdown — adult shadow vocal] Not the creature in the trench... but the hand that keeps supplying it. Not the hatred in the heart... but the ones who profit quietly from it. We call it honor. We call it need. We dress the hunger in what we believe. [Final Chorus — full children’s choir] Come—scream it to meeee! Tell me everything decaying underneath! I’ll hold the truth against the dark until the darkness speaks! The enemy has your tired eyes, your trembling hands, your dreams— and carries home a photograph of everything you’d never leave. The horror isn’t them... The horror isn’t we... It’s knowing peace was always there— then choosing not to see. [All instruments collapse] [Lone boy — inches from microphone] We found the missing piece of peace... It was the piece we saw inside each other... [Single distant explosion] ...and kept denying.
