The Work of Life

INTRO — LOW DRUMS, SINGLE STRUCK ANVIL NOTE REPEATING Hear it ringing... hear it ringing... VERSE 1 We built a furnace tall as heaven, Fed it more than we could spare — A trillion sparks against the winter, Smoke and thunder everywhere. But the iron isn't evil, And the fire is not to blame — It only makes what we demand of it, So change the claim. CHORUS Let the hammers fall on something new, Let the fire learn what fire can do — Beat the blade into the plough somehow, Turn the forge to life — turn it now. Turn it now. VERSE 2 The same steel that walls the harbor Could be keels for harvest grain, The same hands that time the thunder Could bring medicine through rain. Every engine, every genius, Every furnace burning bright — Point them at the dark we live with, And make it light. CHORUS Let the hammers fall on something new, Let the fire learn what fire can do — Beat the blade into the plough somehow, Turn the forge to life — turn it now. Turn it now. BRIDGE — HALF-TIME, VOICES BUILDING We are the hands that hold the hammer, We are the ones who choose the mold, And the oldest promise ever spoken Is waiting to be told: That every family, every table, Under vine and fig tree stays — No one learning war tomorrow, No one afraid. FINAL CHORUS — KEY LIFT, FULL CHOIR Let the hammers fall on something new, Let the fire learn what fire can do — Beat the blade into the plough somehow, Turn the forge to life — turn it now! Bread where the hunger was, Healing where the hurt is now, Light where the dark has been — Turn the forge to life... turn it now. OUTRO — DRUMS FADING TO A SINGLE ANVIL STRIKE Hear it ringing... the work of life.