The Siege

[00:03.10] It’s day forty-eight
[00:04.97] Of what you call the siege
[00:06.93] You’ve been scrabbling at my gate
[00:09.13] But it’s high and hard to reach
[00:11.57] All my watchmen are alert
[00:14.33] They know they cannot flee
[00:17.01] They’re silent like the city
[00:19.38] Now, it never sleeps
[00:21.30] But what’s your game? Heaven knows
[00:23.62] Hell, you think your light will grow
[00:25.93] If you squeeze it out of me
[00:28.42] Like my destruction is your dream
[00:30.81] So you think I’ll tire out
[00:33.22] If I bruise and break and bleed
[00:35.65] I’ll give up, you’ll wear me down
[00:38.64] I’ll call the casualty
[00:40.93] But no such luck, babe
[00:45.73] If this was all it takes
[00:48.57] Years ago, I’d have left this town
[00:55.10] If I was going to break
[00:58.09] By God, I’d have done it by now
[01:04.97] But I don’t break, I bend
[01:09.37] (I don’t break, I bend)
[01:10.13] And what I love, I will defend
[01:15.62] You’ll see it at the end
[01:18.77] Where I grew up, words were bullets that were firing everyday
[01:24.09] I’d watch ‘em from my turret, enduring all the strays
[01:28.45] Some of the shit that I’ve been through, I can’t bring myself to say
[01:33.42] In polite company, it’s too twisted for the page
[01:37.89] You don’t know the half of paths through fucking Hell I’ve had to pave
[01:42.77] You don’t know the half of scars that seared and sculpted me this way
[01:47.77] What you see is that I bear it with a smile on my face
[01:52.17] So you’re crazy if you think that you’re the reason I will change
[01:57.21] ‘Cause you’re not the first to see my kingdom and then say it’s yours to take
[02:02.30] To strip me of my title and then throw me in a cage
[02:06.69] You stole my Echo and my Eden, and then turned my mind a maze
[02:11.57] But I was forged a phoenix, always rising from the grave
[02:16.33] Yeah, you fucked up, babe
[02:21.89] If this was all it takes
[02:24.61] Years ago, I’d have left this town (I’d have left this town)
[02:31.14] If I was going to break
[02:34.01] By God, I’d have done it by now (I’d be broken down)
[02:40.81] But I don’t break, I bend
[02:44.45] (I don’t break, I bend)
[02:45.81] And what I love, I will defend
[02:50.29] You’ll see it at the end
[02:55.17] And it’s not a siege to me, when there’s a battle everyday
[02:59.77] I’ve spent a quarter century quiet, sitting on this rage
[03:04.69] So no white flag’s gonna wave, and no battlements will break, and no cavalry will cave
[03:11.48] I’d rather set the city all ablaze
[03:18.24] You don’t know what I can take
[03:26.13] It’s day forty nine of what you call the siege
[03:31.28] But all I have is time, to wait for your retreat
[03:36.85]