Through Chains That Drag Us Downward -

So, it must be true

Few are worthy of its weight

Few are meant to know

What the ancients knew

And fewer, still

Dare to test their will

Few possess the strength

Timid and tame, but I

I would return this race to its former glory!

I have seen the crumbling face of our gilded past;

Wind-worn monuments, of a more glorious age

Mock us with their unchang’d stare

How can we know what wonders came before us?

I long to feel that power which lies dormant in our blood

As they assembled, this gleaming precipice

Reaching high, above the clouds

How many lifetimes would I waste

Trying to reach its top

Clutching its edges, higher still

Grasping at the hair-like roots

That grow out from the cracks

Only to swipe through the open air

And fall again and again

What sort of creature am I?

So I bear this burden

I suffer and I grow

I grow in vision and in fortitude

(I grow with the fire that is my soul)

With the fire that is my soul

I’ll teach the world to speak in truer tongues

To ever strive for better days

I’ll let the visage of this mangled form

(I'll teach the world to strive for better days)

Teach me the value of each day

To spend the full force of our energies

Advancing towards a new and glorious morning—

The genuine life full of vibrancy and meaning—

This shall be our aim

Let us marshall our motivations

To align with such a high and worthy cause

Let us set new declarations

And discipline in our lives

Let the value of freedom

Run through every crevice in our minds

Through every thought and every action that we choose

Through every monument we erect

Through the long days and long marches

That lead to our highest selves and (highest) contributions

Through all the hopeful dreams

Born from a liberated soul