The Oldest Thing We Know

Before the walls and the warnings

Before the names and the blame

There was a breath in the darkness

There was a spark in the clay

And every mother and mystic

Every fire, every road

Tried to tell us through the centuries

We were never here alone

But we scare easy

We forget fast

Turn our pain into a kingdom

Try to make it last

The oldest thing we know is love

The oldest lie is we’re apart

Every holy song kept reaching

For the same unfinished heart

You do not win by growing colder

You do not heal by closing up

The only way through all this darkness

Is to stay soft and brave enough

To tell the truth

To choose the light

To see yourself in someone else tonight

We made gods out of being certain

Built our thrones out of being right

Wore our wounds just like armor

In the middle of the night

But power never made us holy

And fear never made us strong

What saves a life is mercy moving

When the world says don’t belong

What if all the signs and stories

All the breaking, all the flame

Were just hands inside the darkness

Trying to point us home again

The oldest thing we know is love

The oldest lie is we’re apart

Every broken scripture reaching

For the same unfinished heart

You do not win by standing over

You do not heal by crushing through

The only way through all this sorrow

Is to stay soft enough for truth

To choose the light

To bear the cost

To love again after all we’ve lost

Be humble like the water

Be steady as the sun

Lay down the need to conquer

Let your heart become undone

See the stranger as your mirror

See the wound beneath the rage

We were never meant for empire

We were made to light the way

The oldest thing we know is love

The oldest lie is we’re alone

Every century has whispered it

In flesh and dust and stone

So lay your fear down gently

Let your guarded spirit move

We were never meant to conquer

We were always meant to love

To choose the light

To hold the line

To leave this world more whole than when we arrived

And if there is a kingdom

And if there is a road through

It lives wherever one heart chooses

To stay soft and tell the truth