[INTRO — whispered crowd, distant organ] She made a thing. She used a tool. She crossed a line. She broke a rule. Who gave her permission? [LOW VOICE] Nobody. That’s why they’re angry. [VERSE 1] Come gather round, good people, Come polish up your shame, There’s someone in the village Who did not play the game. She built without the gatekeepers, She sang without the choir, She made herself a doorway— So naturally, Light the fire. But I can smell the hunger Underneath your holy tone. You do not want the truth, love— You just want to throw the stone. [CALL AND RESPONSE] CHOIR: Unclean. LEAD: According to who? CHOIR: Untrue. LEAD: You haven’t got a clue. CHOIR: Not made by you. LEAD: That much is true. ALL: But neither was the world That made a weapon out of you. [CHORUS] Put down the stone. Put down the stone. Your halo’s slipping, darling, And your cruelty is showing. Put down the stone. Come down from holy height. You call it purity— I call it fear in Sunday white. Put down the stone. [VERSE 2] You praise the hand that suffers. You worship the hard road. You only trust creation If it buckles under load. You want the artist starving. You want the wound kept raw. You want her crawling barefoot Just to prove she earned the door. Well, I have stitched and carried. I have served and stayed and made. I have done the kind of labour That the market never paid. So do not stand there judging What you never had to bear. You do not get to measure What it cost to bring me here. [CALL AND RESPONSE] CHOIR: She cheated. LEAD: No, I changed the way. CHOIR: She stole it. LEAD: From what—your fear of change? CHOIR: She didn’t suffer. LEAD: You don’t know what I paid. ALL: You only trust the martyr When she dies before she’s made. [CHORUS] Put down the stone. Put down the stone. Your halo’s slipping, darling, And your cruelty is showing. Put down the stone. Come down from holy height. You call it purity— I call it fear in Sunday white. Put down the stone. [SERMON BRIDGE — spoken over organ] Brothers, sisters, Saints of perfect practice— Let us turn now To the Book of Convenient Ethics. And lo, The crowd did drive the car, Scroll upon the phone, Stream the song, Use the cloud, Buy what came from hands unknown— But when the woman used a tool They never thought she should— Suddenly, They discovered purity. [CHOIR] Amen. How convenient. Amen. How clean. [LEAD] You bless the rule and leave the scar, [choir echoes "scar"] Then praise yourself from where you are. [Choir echoes "are"] You name the sin, condemn the need, [choir echoes "need"] Then leave the wounded one to bleed. [Choir echoes "bleed"] You want a villain close enough to shame Because the system behind the curtain Will not answer to your name. So you choose the woman Making something from the ruins of her life. How brave. How holy. How completely unsurprising. [BREAKDOWN — sparse stomp] Throw it if you need to. Let me see your hand. Let me see what righteousness Looks like when it lands. But understand— There is nothing holy in it Just because you chant as one. A crowd can call itself righteous While it darkens out the sun. [FINAL CHORUS — choir transformed] CHOIR: Put down the stone. LEAD: Put down the stone. CHOIR: Not yours to judge. LEAD: Not yours to name. CHOIR: Not yours to dim. LEAD: Not yours to shame. ALL: Put down the stone. Come down from holy height. You call it purity— I call it fear in Sunday white. We are not asking for permission. We are making from the wreckage. Put down the stone. [OUTRO] [WHISPER] She made a thing. [LEAD] Yes. [WHISPER] She used a tool. [LEAD] Yes. [WHISPER] She broke the rule. [LEAD] Good. [FINAL CHOIR] Put. Down. The. Stone.
