Low synth pulse. Wind. Distant machinery.)
[Lyra — Female, soft but steady]
Beyond the wall of guarded light,
They call it peace, they call it right.
I watched the screens, I learned the rules,
Truth looks clean from towers and tools.
[Shun — Male, low and restrained]
Out where the ground remembers names,
Every step is earned in pain.
No banners here, no second tries,
You learn to live or you don’t survive.
[Lyra — Female]
They drew the lines, they closed the gate,
Said this is order, this is fate—
[Shun — Male]
—but fate breaks fast when hunger speaks,
And hope is forged by the desperate and weak.
⸻
[Both — Chorus, layered]
This is the sojourn — step into the fire,
Carry the weight, cut through the wire.
When the world says kneel, we rise again,
Through borrowed light and broken skin.
This is the sojourn — no turning back,
From fractured truth to a shattered track.
If hope’s a spark in a dying sun,
We walk it forward… this is the sojourn.
⸻
(Beat tightens. Percussion builds.)
[Shun — Male]
I learned young what it costs to stay,
You trade tomorrow for one more day.
Trust is rare, mercy’s thin,
But I’ve seen one choice still let light in.
[Lyra — Female]
I saw the cost behind the glass,
How quiet systems let lives pass.
If safety’s built on who you erase,
Then something’s wrong with the shape of grace.
[Shun — Male]
You don’t need crowns to draw a line—
[Lyra — Female]
—just hands that choose not to look away in time.
⸻
[Both — Chorus, stronger]
This is the sojourn — step into the fire,
Carry the truth, carry the wire.
When the system breaks and the weak are torn,
We move ahead — tired, sworn.
This is the sojourn — no promised throne,
Just forward steps through skin and bone.
If the night is long and the road is torn,
We walk it anyway… this is the sojourn.
⸻
(Music drops to heartbeat and breath.)
[Lyra — Female, intimate]
If saving one costs everything—
[Shun — Male, answering]
—then everything’s worth giving.
⸻
[Final Chorus — Both, unified]
This is the sojourn — remember the cost,
Every road paid for by what we lost.
From the edge of fear to the breaking dawn,
We stand together… and we carry on.
This is the sojourn — say it again,
Not how it ends, but who we defend.
If hope still breathes when the lights are gone,
We walk it forward… this is the sojourn.
(Final note holds. Fade.)