They carved me from sunlight they knelt when I spoke My word turned the river my hand raised the stone Let their god stay a rumor for beggars and folk This land had one god and his name was my own He was drawn from the reeds raised a brother of mine Now he stood in my hall and he dared to demand Threw his staff on the floor it rose serpentine My priests matched the sign with a wave of the hand The Nile turned to blood and the frogs choked the halls Something old and unseen came climbing my walls They cry let my people go till it rings in my ears But a god doesn't bend to a beggar's demand I have outlasted famine and flooding and years Let the whole sky fall in it will bow to my hand Then the sun went to ash and the locusts came down Boils on the highborn the cattle lay dead My own priests fell back this is more than a crown This is the hand of their God but I turned my head Night ate the noon and my magicians went pale And I felt the first crack running under chainmail They cry let my people go till it rings in my ears But a god doesn't bend to a beggar's demand I have outlasted famine and flooding and years Let the whole sky fall in it will bow to my hand Blood on their doorposts and death stepped aside But my palace wore gold and my firstborn died I held him I shook him I called out his name And the God I refused gave an answer the same Kumu tze'u Get out take your God take them all I broke on the one word I swore I'd never call They cried let my people go so I opened my hand But pride grows back fast on a man born to reign I sent every chariot I had across the sand Let my people go and I took it back again Let my people go Let my people go The sea stood like a wall then it answered me back Closed its fist on my army my gold and my name The crown stayed on my head as the water went black And let my people go was the last thing I became
