Track 03: The Center Must Stay

    mid-tempo industrial folk, steady drum, warm low choir

    Verse 1: You can paint the sky green You can teach the stone to sing You can put a crown on winter You can give the mouse a ring

    You can turn the road to water You can fold the moon in clay You can make the old form stranger But the center has to stay

    Pre-Chorus: Change the window Change the wire Change the weather Change the choir

    But when the room forgets the flame Call the center by its name

    Chorus: The center must stay Though the edges rearrange The form may bend But the meaning must not change

    Let the wild lines play Let the bright door swing But the center must stay Or you lose the living thing

    Verse 2: The Lantern became a river Then a bell, then a wing Then a map with seven shadows Then a crown that would not cling

    Each form taught a little Each form took a turn But the ones that lost the center Had nothing left to burn

    Pre-Chorus: Not every change is freedom Not every shift is true If the new form eats the meaning Then the form has stolen you

    Chorus: The center must stay Though the edges rearrange The form may bend But the meaning must not change

    Let the wild lines play Let the bright door swing But the center must stay Or you lose the living thing

    Bridge: Creativity is not escape from meaning Creativity is meaning finding room A seed does not betray itself By learning how to bloom

    The flower is not the seed But the seed is not denied The shape can change completely If the root remains inside

    Final Chorus: The center must stay Let the whole sky rearrange The form may bend But the meaning must not change

    Let the wild lines play Let the bright door swing The center must stay To preserve the living thing