The Siege lyrics by Janani K. Jha
It’s day forty-eight
Of what you call the siege
You’ve been scrabbling at my gate
But it’s high and hard to reach
All my watchmen are alert
They know they cannot flee
They’re silent like the city
Now, it never sleeps
But what’s your game? Heaven knows
Hell, you think your light will grow
If you squeeze it out of me
Like my destruction is your dream
So you think I’ll tire out
If I bruise and break and bleed
I’ll give up, you’ll wear me down
I’ll call the casualty
But no such luck, babe
If this was all it takes
Years ago, I’d have left this town
If I was going to break
By God, I’d have done it by now
But I don’t break, I bend
(I don’t break, I bend)
And what I love, I will defend
You’ll see it at the end
Where I grew up, words were bullets that were firing every day
I’d watch ’em from my turret, enduring all the strays
Some of the shit that I’ve been through, I can’t bring myself to say
In polite company, it’s too twisted for the page
You don’t know the half of paths through fucking Hell I’ve had to pave
You don’t know the half of scars that seared and sculpted me this way
What you see is that I bear it with a smile on my face
So you’re crazy if you think that you’re the reason I will change
‘Cause you’re not the first to see my kingdom and then say it’s yours to take
To strip me of my title and then throw me in a cage
You stole my Echo and my Eden, and then turned my mind a maze
But I was forged a phoenix, always rising from the grave
Yeah, you fucked up, babe
If this was all it takes
Years ago, I’d have left this town (I’d have left this town)
If I was going to break
By God, I’d have done it by now (I’d be broken down)
But I don’t break, I bend
(I don’t break, I bend)
And what I love, I will defend
You’ll see it at the end
And it’s not a siege to me, when there’s a battle every day
I’ve spent a quarter century quiet, sitting on this rage
So no white flag’s gonna wave, and no battlements will break, and no cavalry will cave
I’d rather set the city all ablaze
You don’t know what I can take
It’s day forty nine of what you call the siege
But all I have is time, to wait for your retreat