(Soft, weeping violin melody fades in)
(Muted, rhythmic talking drum pulse begins)
(Gentle piano chords)
Yeah. The land remembers.
The soil keeps the stories that the books forgot.
Let the spirits listen.
I walk the paths where the ancestors once stood tall
Before the shadows came to cast a long and heavy pall
They traded our spirit for silver and for gold
While the stories of our freedom were silenced and sold
The rivers carry tears of a thousand nights of rain
The rhythm of the desert speaks the language of the pain
We are the children of the sun, now lost in the fray
Watching the Commonwealth of our life slowly fade away
Oh, the land cries for the strength we used to hold
For the wealth of the nations that were bought and sold
From the Delta's deep waters to the Northern golden sand
We are reaching for the heartbeat of our stolen, ancient land
Oh, the land cries, can you hear the spirit weep?
For the promises broken and the secrets that we keep
They came with the papers, they came with the steel
They didn't care about the wounds that would never heal
Our resources flowing to a land across the blue
Leaving us with empty hands and a world made anew
But the guitar remembers the song of the free
And the Taureg rhythm echoes across the deep sea
We are building from the ashes of a colonial dream
Trying to navigate the flow of this sorrowful stream
Oh, the land cries for the strength we used to hold
For the wealth of the nations that were bought and sold
From the Delta's deep waters to the Northern golden sand
We are reaching for the heartbeat of our stolen, ancient land
Oh, the land cries, can you hear the spirit weep?
For the promises broken and the secrets that we keep
Can we rise above the history of the chain?
Can we wash away the memory of the rain?
The neocolonial wind is cold upon my skin
But the fire in our blood is where the healing must begin
Listen to the drums, let them guide the weary home
No longer strangers in the places that we roam
Oh, the land cries for the strength we used to hold
For the wealth of the nations that were bought and sold
From the Delta's deep waters to the Northern golden sand
We are reaching for the heartbeat of our stolen, ancient land
Oh, the land cries, can you hear the spirit weep?
For the promises broken and the secrets that we keep
Let the soil heal. Let the water run clean.
We are more than the shadows, more than the unseen.
(Talking drum fades into a steady, heartbeat rhythm)
(Piano and violin play the final melody)
Remember the roots.
Stay true to the soil.
Peace.