[Intro] [Melancholic, sweeping synthetic strings] [Glitchy, broken electronic beats slowly fading in] [Operatic Soprano - a soft, mournful, wordless lament] [Heavy, slow, descending guitar riff crashes in like a weight] [Verse 1] [Clean Male Vocals - soft, fragile, and deeply sad] I found a photograph from a thousand years ago. Just yesterday, but time moves brutally slow. I see a smile, I see a steady hand. A version of me that I can barely understand. He moved like water, he ran without a thought. Before the battles, before the wars were fought. Now I stare at the glass, and a stranger stares back. Covered in armor, painted in black. [Pre-Chorus] [Male Vocals - building in volume and frustration] I mourn the ghost of the man I used to be. Trapped in the amber of a faded memory. They say to move on, they say to let it go. But how do you bury a shadow you still know? [Chorus] [Epic Operatic Soprano Vocals - tragic, soaring, full of heartbreak] I am haunted by the phantom self! A dusty book left upon the shelf! I feel the echo of a life left behind! A ghost in the machine, a ghost in the mind! Weep for the ashes, cry for the past! Nothing so beautiful was ever meant to last! [Instrumental Break] [Atmospheric, spacey synthesizer mixed with a slow, grinding bassline] [Distant, reversed drum sounds creating a feeling of distortion] [Verse 2] [Clean Male Vocals - turning bitter and cynical] "You look so well today," that's the casual lie. They see the mask, but they never see the sky Falling down on my shoulders, crushing my spine. Walking a tightrope on a fractured line. The grief is a ocean, invisible and deep. It steals my breath and it poisons my sleep. I'm grieving the future that I had to erase. To make room for the monster I have to embrace. [Pre-Chorus] [Male Vocals - building in volume and frustration] I mourn the ghost of the man I used to be. Trapped in the amber of a faded memory. They say to move on, they say to let it go. But how do you bury a shadow you still know? [Chorus] [Epic Operatic Soprano Vocals - tragic, soaring, full of heartbreak] I am haunted by the phantom self! A dusty book left upon the shelf! I feel the echo of a life left behind! A ghost in the machine, a ghost in the mind! Weep for the ashes, cry for the past! Nothing so beautiful was ever meant to last! [Verse 3] [Harsh Male Screams - raw, unhinged, pure emotional pain] Why did it have to be me?! Why did the roots have to rot in the tree?! I want it back! I want the control! I want the fire that was stolen from my soul! [Heavy, dissonant guitar chords striking on every beat] I am screaming at the sky, but the sky is dead! Just the rattling cage and the noise in my head! [Bridge] [Duet: Haunting Soprano and Raw Screams] [Scream] Give him back to me! [Soprano] He is gone into the night. [Scream] I can't let him go! [Soprano] You must step into the light. [Scream] It's tearing me apart! [Soprano] Let the broken pieces fall. [Both together] This is the hardest goodbye of them all! [Guitar Solo] [Slow, crying, blues-infused nu-metal solo, highly expressive and sorrowful] [The beat drops to half-time, making it feel incredibly heavy] [Chorus] [Epic Operatic Soprano Vocals - maximum emotion, choir joining] I am haunted by the phantom self! A dusty book left upon the shelf! I feel the echo of a life left behind! A ghost in the machine, a ghost in the mind! Weep for the ashes, cry for the past! Nothing so beautiful was ever meant to last! [Outro] [Music strips back to a single acoustic guitar and soft synth pad] [Clean Male Vocals - exhausted, whispering] Goodbye, old friend. I have to leave you here. [Operatic Soprano - one final, dying breath note] [Fade to silence] [End]
