Verse 1
The bells were ringing, cold and slow,
morning dressed in gray.
I stood among a thousand faces
and told myself to stay.
I’ve seen the blood, I’ve heard the drums,
I’ve learned when not to breathe.
I’ve learned that silence keeps you safe
and questions make you bleed.
Pre-Chorus
I’ve always known where not to stand,
where not to speak too loud.
But something broke inside my chest
when your eyes found me in the crowd.
Chorus
I didn’t look away this time,
I didn’t bow my head.
Something died inside that square,
but something else was fed.
You can chain the truth in iron law,
you can dress it up as fate,
but I saw you, and now I know—
and knowing comes too late.
Verse 2
They call it order, call it peace,
they say it keeps us whole.
But peace that needs a public death
is rotting at the core.
Children learned to clap their hands,
mothers learned to smile.
I learned how far a human heart
can walk and still be vile.
Pre-Chorus
I washed my hands though they were clean,
the blood stayed all the same.
You don’t need knives to share the guilt,
sometimes it’s just your name.
Chorus
I didn’t look away this time,
I couldn’t if I tried.
Your silence screamed into my bones
and stayed there, deep inside.
You showed me what obedience costs,
what comfort really buys—
a life where breathing isn’t free
but at least you’re still alive.
Bridge
I’m not a hero, not that kind,
I don’t know how to fight.
I only know I crossed a line
when wrong stopped feeling right.
I won’t be loud, I won’t be seen,
not yet, not here, not now.
But every step I take from here
is no longer a vow to bow.
Final Chorus
I didn’t look away this time,
and now I never will.
You can keep your perfect order,
your fear polished into will.
I’m still walking through your streets,
I still speak the words you teach—
but I no longer belong to you,
and that is how it starts to break.
Outro
The crowd went home.
The square was clean.
The posts still stand in line.
But something’s moving under stone—
and this time,
it might be mine.
Xeno_BookDemon
