Banner/Songs/The Debt Remains

The Debt Remains, written by Banner Targonian and first performed at "Zoluren Arts: A Concert Showcase, hosted by the White Gladiolus Society."

Intro

You sing in a tenor voice:

You say, "The boasts have faded."

You say, "The shadows have spoken."

You say, "The graves lie silent."

You say, "And the debt is still here."

You say, "So hear this truth..."

You say, "The forgotten outnumber the living."

You say, "We cannot pay it in full."

You say, "But we can pay *on* it."

You say, "With memory."

You say, "With song."

You say, "Every word we sing tonight-."

You exclaim, "Every word!"

You say, "Is a coin placed against the debt that remains, in their memory."

You nod.

You say, "'The Debt Remains.'."

Song Log

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "Our ledger stands, the account is clear,

     A thousand names we failed to hear.

     The page runs red with the price unpaid,

     A debt of silence our songs have made."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "When stone is broken, when steel is gone,

     Still the song keeps carrying on.

     We cannot pay what time disdains,

     But we will remember, for the debt remains."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "Forgive our songs that crowned the few,

     And left the many without their due.

     Forgive the cheers that drowned your cries,

     The stories lost when the hero lies."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "When stone is broken, when steel is gone,

     Still the song keeps carrying on.

     We cannot pay what time disdains,

     But we will remember, for the debt remains."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "We pledge our words to the least of these,

     The nameless graves, the forgotten seas.

     Your lives will stand where our voices rise,

     Your memory sung, your worth our prize."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "When stone is broken, when steel is gone,

     Still the song keeps carrying on.

     We cannot pay what time disdains,

     But we will remember, for the debt remains."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "So take this song as the coin we give,

     A promise sung so your names still lives.

     And we will stand where your silence stayed,

     Till debt is honored in the songs we've made."

You sing in a tenor voice:

    "When stone is broken, when steel is gone,

     Still the song keeps carrying on.

     We cannot pay what time disdains,

     But we will remember, for the debt remains."

Conclusion

You sing in a tenor voice:

You say, "We have sung of boasts."

You say, "We have sung of shadows."

You say, "We have sung of bones."

You say, "And now we must face the truth."

You say, "For those who spin stories or compose songs."

You say, "The ledger stands against us."

You say, "We owe a debt of memory, a debt of honor, a debt of voice."

You say, "This song was our apology."

You say, "This song was our promise."

You say, "The debt remains..."

You say, "...but let it not remain unpaid in silence."

You say, "Consider the story *you* need to tell. The song *you* need to sing."

You say, "That person, long forgotten by others, who had a profound impact on *you*."

You say, "That person, still a shadow and not yet a forgotten breath."

You say, "Tell."

You say, "Their."

You say, "Tale."

You say, "Until then, *your* debt remains."

You bow.