A cinematic island elegy, this original song carries the soul of Matala: a lush Pacific island standing on the edge of a new world that has already arrived and cannot be stopped. Nalani is not a warrior by sword, but by thought.
Taken young and later educated under a colonial advancement scheme, not designed to uplift, but to divide, control, and hold up useful examples, she returns with a law degree, calm, strategic, and quietly defiant.
This is not the sound of battle. This is the sound of choosing when to begin it.
Lyrics
The tide is rising the air grows thin
The earth still sleeps
But the war drifts in
I walk through shadows
Between the past
Holding secrets no soul should mask
The sun-kissed waves touch silver sands
My people dance with careless hands
But I have seen the traders' eyes
A hunger masked in silk and lies
They come with iron
They come with chains
With ledgered words
and poisoned names
They steal an inch
They take a mile
And when we wake
We've lost our isle
I know the game
I play my hand
A step too fast
Our fate is damned
They think me blind
They think me weak
But I have learned…
The world they seek
I know the game
I play my hand
A step too fast
Our fate is damned
They think me blind
They think me weak
But I have learned…
He world they seek
I am the tide the storm unseen
No chains will bind the fire in me
I walk alone between the past
A queen of war
My fate holds fast
My father speaks with wisdom deep
Yet cannot see the wolves that creep
The council laughs their hearts at peace
But I have stood where shadows feast
I walk the halls of foreign men
I drink their words
I play their hand
A careful pawn
Within their scheme
I dance the steps
Unseen serene
Unseen serene
Strike too soon
We fall like leaves
Strike too late
We choke on grief
I watch
They wait
They think me tame
But I have learned their brutal game
I am the tide the storm unseen
No chains will bind the fire in me
I walk alone between the past
A queen of war
My fate holds fast