Cathedral Of The Broken

[INTRO] [low organ, clean electric guitar arpeggios, distant choir pads, toms building slow] [VERSE 1] The bells quit ringing for me years ago, Dust on every pew they made me kneel below. They pressed a paper halo to my hair, While they whispered all my sins into the midnight air. They painted crosses over every bruise, Said “baby, pain is holy” every time I’d lose. But I carved my name in every stone they laid, Found out the deadest roses still can hide a blade. [PRE-CHORUS] I am not your trembling daughter in the dark, I am every match you smothered catching spark. [CHORUS] In this cathedral of the broken I light my own damn candles, Turn the whispers into thunder, Let the guilty try to handle. Every echo that you buried Coming back in crimson waves, I am velvet, I am venom, And I bloom above your graves. In this cathedral of the broken Hear my requiem for chains. [VERSE 2] They dressed me up in Sunday-colored lies, Tried to hide the fangs behind my pretty eyes. Said “good girls never dance with what they fear,” So I took the hand of every shadow waiting here. Now all your judgment sounds like choir noise, I tune it out and tune my violin to other joys. This black-lace heart was never yours to own, You only taught me how to turn a scar to stone. [PRE-CHORUS] You can keep your bloodless blessings in the pews, I will sing for every sinner you refused. [CHORUS] In this cathedral of the broken I light my own damn candles, Turn the whispers into thunder, Let the guilty try to handle. Every echo that you buried Coming back in crimson waves, I am velvet, I am venom, And I bloom above your graves. In this cathedral of the broken Hear my requiem for chains. [BRIDGE] [half-time, strings and piano under whispered vocal] Maybe I was built for midnight, Black mascara, holy rage, Holy water on my tongue While I set your history to flame. [guitars and orchestra swell] Let the organs shake the ceiling, Let the windows rattle loose, Every ghost that ever chained me Now I hang them with the noose. [BREAKDOWN] [drums drop, chugs and choir stabs] This is not your hymn for saving, This is my dark hallelujah. [FINAL CHORUS] In this cathedral of the broken I light my own damn candles, All the demons in the rafters Know my name and they can handle. Every echo that you buried Rising up in molten sound, I am velvet, I am venom, And I will not bow back down. In this cathedral of the broken I wear ruin like a crown, In this cathedral of the broken Hear me, I am holy now. [OUTRO] [choir and strings hold, guitar feedback fades, one last low organ chord]