Dark Flag

They stole you far away To the end of the sea From rib and clay My lantern and key Home is the narrow and wide reaches of our shared scars On tomorrow's horizon, I wait To believe I choose to see When the sun is down Show me how to reflect like the moon The key is in my hands and I choose to burn bright Safe years behind me burn bright I know now I am not alone You've always found me in the deep of night I could die well here before morning comes Because I can see all the lights of the sun in your eyes We spoke of lovely things With guards not listening We made plans to escape Like in the movies Confiding in scripts Kindling in secret Our home discrete In captors' keep In quiet still small moments Wait till they leave us alone And don't look back Cross with me over the threshold My inimitable half In quiet still small moments I hear you breathe and I remember I am alive I am alive I found you under distant stars Distant stars You saw me through my deepest dark (I can see all the lights of the sun in your) I know now I am not alone You've always found me in the deep of night I could die well here, before morning comes Because I can see all the lights of the sun in your eyes Home is the narrow & wide reaches of our shared scars On tomorrow's horizon I can see all the lights of the sun in your eyes (Sun in your eyes) The key is in my hands and I choose to burn bright Safe years behind me burn bright

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

I awoke from a nightmare In a fit consciousness now Cold sweat and colder air Blinding flashes cast a shadow Before the sound hit the square The end of it all They kept it from your TV screens; A sleight of hand I dreamt of a lifeless rock; A cratered wasteland It’s not just an alternate reality I saw the bombs fall It’s not just overseas I saw the bombs fall Are we really that far away? Am I naive to think That this is only a dream? Is it really too hard to recall what brought the end of it all? We lost our chance to rewrite history Rewrite history A path void of heroes The abysmal waste of what could have been Discerning only ones and zeros There’s no space between for them Peel back what covers your ears Hear that a nation is crying out for mercy (Mercy) Before it’s too late for them to raise the sound Mercy Before it’s too late for them Mercy Are we really that far away? Am I naive to think That this is only a dream? Is it really too hard to recall what brought the end of it all? We lost our chance We lost our chance to rewrite history Between the bodies in trenches and the blustery sky It’s not just overseas; I saw the bombs fall I saw the bombs fall

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

No lyrics have been submitted for this track yet.

First light Under quiet clouded cloak All hell broke the ridge Wry trees Up a narrow trail A wordless story A war that never ends Brothers and sisters sleep in a bed hollowed by staves Like discarded shells from guns of powerful men Last one lays in red under swinging single light No pulse; a war that never ends How clever you lie How many ways you kill Your cure is worse than our disease Your stated shrine Your cup overfilled Your cure is worse than our disease (A war that never ends) Our proudest legacy is how unendingly we scheme Of new ways to kill than condemn A war that never ends It became our greatest prize to keenly wield skill to devise More ways to cut than to mend A war that never ends How clever you lie How many ways you kill Your cure is worse than our disease Your stated shrine Your cup overfilled Your cure is worse than our disease (A war that never ends)

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

If all it takes is a voice to lead Rise up Moses and teach me to speak If all it takes is a mustard seed I'll trade my heart to move a mountain in me Mountain in me, yeah Struck me like lightning and called me by thunder To raise an army underground I hear the trumpet, the final sound We will rise from barren lowly dirt First to strike the stone, break the earth Taunt the jaws of lions And you will suffer teeth Lash the backs of my people You'll be scarred to bone underneath Oh I pray for the day my words unleash the rain If all it takes is a voice to lead Rise up Moses and teach me to speak If all it takes is a mustard seed I'll trade my heart to move a mountain in me Mountain in me (Mountain in me) Mountain in me Break the earth Heels to the throat of liberty Always withdraw broken Forbidden words of prophets In time will be spoken Rise up: from barren lowly dirt Rise up: strike the stone, break the earth If you reap what you've sown, why has nothing grown? Oh I pray for the day my words unleash the rain If all it takes is a voice to lead Rise up Moses and teach me to speak If all it takes is a mustard seed I'll trade my heart to move a mountain in me If all it takes is a voice to lead Rise up Moses and teach me to speak If all it takes is a mustard seed I'll trade my heart to move a mountain in me Struck me like lightning and called me by thunder To raise an army underground I hear the trumpet, the final sound We will rise from barren lowly dirt First to strike the stone, break the earth

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Is there a power without or within Hope isn't grown, hope is awakened The threat of law can't outweigh conviction Hope isn't grown, hope is awakened Where are you now? Are you present or an accident; my rosary Where are you now? Will my faith meet sight or bayonet? My rosary My first free choice was lying to the state Given context to what lies past the gate The fog surrounding my camp began to disperse We took our chance for the fence but I wasn't first I've found that running away isn't the same as being free I'm paralyzed in my sleep Running away isn't the same as being free You were my compass; my rosary (Hope is awakened) Hope isn't grown; hope is awakened Hope isn't grown; hope is awakened I slipped on ice and watched your hands reach out Shaking as coils sent current throughout Grounding the burnt of what should have been my fate Opening the wires sending fire through your veins Like a bridge, I crawled over you to outside My first breath of freedom was your last breath of life I've found that running away isn't the same as being free I'm paralyzed in my sleep Running away isn't the same as being free You were my compass; my rosary Is there a power without or within Hope isn't grown, hope is awakened The threat of law can outweigh conviction Hope isn't grown, hope is awakened Where are you now? (Hope isn't grown) Are you present? (Hope is awakened) Where are you now? (Hope isn't grown) Are you an accident? (Hope is awakened)

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

No lyrics have been submitted for this track yet.

The smell of wine turned Bread beneath the gallows tree Ode to the nameless: a hooded child Communion for Ravens No hope to lose; no past to mourn Born a slave deep in the earth A famine-stricken cursed womb Nothing is sacred The only escape is death You would torture my family To litter my tomb I refuse to live dead any longer Hooks on the wall over open flame (Silence escape) Bowing heads into the earth (No hope; no name) Hooks on the wall over open flame (Silence escape) Bowing heads into the earth (No hope; no name) I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer The smell of wine turned Bread beneath the gallows tree Ode to the nameless: a hooded child Communion for Ravens I saw the stone walls fall Crushing their will to dust Swept away with the river's current But still, I see every face I refuse to live dead any longer In blood or in famine Silence escape Grow old to die here No hope; no name I refuse to live dead any longer The smell of wine turned Bread beneath the gallows tree Ode to the nameless: a hooded child Communion for Ravens I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer I refuse to live dead any longer

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Counting days with each cell door creak I know the number of every chain link Grieving walls draw near to mind The deafening hush of waiting to die Hold fast to hope of another day Hold fast; it can’t last forever The meaningless names of far off places I have to believe something better awaits I sense a waste in every exhale Breath escapes iron bar and nail Forgotten silence condemned Darkness as my only friend But hold fast to hope of another day Hold fast; it can’t last forever The meaningless names of far off places I have to believe something better awaits I have to believe something better awaits I am waiting to die among a swarm of flies Every day is a lifetime in chains Every day Hold fast to hope of another day Hold fast; it can’t last forever In meaningless names of far off places I have to believe something better awaits Hold fast to hope of another day Hold fast; it can’t last forever In meaningless names of far off places I have to believe something better awaits I have to believe I have to believe

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026