[Verse 1 — controlled, formal, still trying to pray] I stood where every light began I prayed at every altar built for you I gave you every year I had in service And I never once allowed myself to doubt what’s true
I was the shield, I was the answer I carried your name into the fire I believed — I still believe — I have to That everything I burned for made me yours
[Pre-Chorus] So the world is ash And I am all that’s left Tell me where you are I need you to answer
[Chorus — raw, shouted, breaking apart] WHERE ARE YOU I have bled for you WHERE ARE YOU Was any word of it true I am on my knees in the ruin you left And I am asking you WHERE ARE YOU
[Verse 2 — the denial cracks fully] I know what I felt inside those walls I know what moved in me when they said my name I know the hymns weren’t just the cold wind in the hallways I know — I have to know — I cannot be wrong
But the dead keep counting and the skies keep closing And every prayer I send goes nowhere I am so tired of the silence costing Everything I have left to spare
[Pre-Chorus 2 — quieter, almost a confession] So say something Anything at all I will take whatever you give Tell me I was not fighting for nothing Tell me I still deserve to live
[Chorus 2 — same, more desperate] WHERE ARE YOU I gave you everything WHERE ARE YOU Does that not mean anything I am still here, still standing, still screaming And you give me nothing WHERE ARE YOU
[Bridge — production drops to near silence]
(nothing)
…
The heavens held their breath.
And gave me nothing.
(long pause — absolute silence)
(then — from below, not above — a deep bass drone, barely perceptible, something ancient)
Then—
Something heard me.
Not the gods I called. Not the light I served. Something older. Something that had been waiting a long time.
And I felt it —
(the faintest warmth, wrong and terrible and real)
And I was so desperate—
I didn’t run.
[Final Chorus — no choir, the new tone is in its place] Something answered And it wasn’t from above Something answered And I don’t know what it was I screamed at heaven Heaven kept its silence But something in the dark
…heard every word
(held on a single low note — not resolution. Presence.)