Lacerta Encounter - Beneath the Borrowed Face

[Intro|Close Contralto|Egyptian-Accented English] Leave the recorder running. You asked me who I am. [Verse 1|Intimate Contralto|Oud] Lacerta is the name I give; Your tongue can carry it with ease. My own would lose its meaning here, So use the name you heard from me. I have a life beyond this room, A home your maps have never shown. [Verse 2|Low Cello|Clear Words] The skin you see is pale and green, With darker marks along its grain. My pupils narrow in the light; A membrane slides across my gaze. You watch for seams beneath my jaw. There is no costume to withdraw. [Verse 3|Darkwave Bass Enters] I do not change my flesh or bones To walk unnoticed through your streets. I touch the picture in your mind; You see the face you think you meet. The body sitting here stays mine. Your senses finish the disguise. [Pre-Chorus|Deep Drums Rise] Tell me what you see. Then look beyond the face. I did not cross the stars to reach you. I was born beneath this place. [Chorus|Commanding Contralto|Wide Darkwave] This is my world too. We were here before your towers. Beneath the ground you claim as yours, There are streets and homes of ours. You call me stranger to this Earth; I call this Earth my place of birth. [Verse 4|Oud and Dry Voice] The pencil moved because I willed; You saw the coffee turn to ice. These are abilities we're born with, Not something bought through sacrifice. You call it magic from your chair. We learn to use what nature put there. [Verse 5|Darbuka Returns|Warm Low Register] In sunlight, every sense grows clear; My thoughts reach farther than before. That is one reason I come up, Though we have built our lives below. You saw me standing in the day And never thought to turn away. [Verse 6|Deep Toms|Growing Authority] Fourteen thousand feet below, Our cities open in the stone. We cut our streets through solid rock; We did not wait to find a home. Above us, borders rise and fall. Your maps don't show our homes at all. [Chorus|Commanding Contralto|Wide Darkwave] This is my world too. We were here before your towers. Beneath the ground you claim as yours, There are streets and homes of ours. You call me stranger to this Earth; I call this Earth my place of birth. [Verse 7|Low Cello|Measured Delivery] A central tower gives us light, Keeps air in motion, holds the heat. An artificial day begins Above the rooms in which we sleep. We built the means to live down there; No hidden heaven, rock and air. [Verse 8|Full Pulse|Firm Accented Lead] We mostly keep away from you; Concealment lets us pass unharmed. You learned to fear a serpent's face Before you saw these open palms. I let you see me as I am. Now write that down before you judge. [Final Chorus|Commanding Belt|Voice Above Drums] This is my world too. We were here before your towers. You draw your borders overhead; They do not make our homeland yours. You call me stranger to this Earth; I call this Earth my place of birth. [Outro|Low Sung Contralto|Oud Ends Cleanly] You asked why we live underground. To tell you that, we must go back: Before your kind, there was a war for copper.