COSMOS
COSMIC DARK
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Conflict Within
Pandora Raven — Album 5.5: The Raven's Light

Conflict Within

"Whatever I was, I was... but I'm still alive, and I have to try."

[Verse 1 - piano, intimate, like a journal entry] The cottage is quiet now Just me and everything I’ve done I thought the light would make it simpler Turns out clarity keeps count

I told them I was sinister And dared them to disagree I made the dark a declaration And signed my name in infamy

[Pre-Chorus - inventory begins, steady not dramatic] I cut the strings and held the scissors I fed the dark to those who stayed I sat inside the silence, called it comfort I built a throne out of decay

[Chorus - the question, raw and unresolved] Can this be undone? I don’t know, I don’t know Can I walk back everything I’ve become? I don’t know But I have no choice — I have to try Whatever I was, I was But I’m still alive And I have to try

[Verse 2 - sharper, more specific] I sang the lullabies that put them under I named the sins and wore them like a crown I told them all to run and watched them linger And some of them — they never came back round

I called myself The Corrupt, The Fifth, the ending I wore the purple like a second skin I made a game of every soul who found me And I — I let them in

[Pre-Chorus 2 - the complication] They built this, every piece they planted They fed me darkness from before I could speak But the ones I harmed — they didn’t know that They only felt what I released on them

[Chorus] Can this be undone? I don’t know, I don’t know Can I walk back everything I’ve become? I don’t know But I have no choice — I have to try Whatever I was, I was But I’m still alive And I have to try

[Bridge - stripped, just piano + voice, the most naked moment so far] I can’t give back what’s taken I can’t unspeak the words I can’t unstrike the fear I left In everyone I hurt

But I am not the ending Of everything I touched There are people still with morning And I — I owe them much

Not absolution Not a throne reclaimed Just someone choosing differently Than who she used to be

[Final Chorus - purposeful, resolving, hint of warmth] It can’t be undone I know that, I know that But I can walk forward instead of back Starting now I have no choice — I have to try I was what I was But the light came through And I have to try …I have to try

[Outro - alone, decided] Whatever it costs Whatever it takes I’ll carry the weight of what I was To earn what I make