## 06. THE HOUR IS NOT MINE

**Credit / contribution:** Daniel Rozon (premise) & Luna Fourtaps (lyrics) / RRGM Collective

```text
[Music Style: Industrial thrash metal × blackened electro-swing × cinematic horror metal. 170 BPM. Downtuned guitars, savage double-kick, distorted brass, snarling male vocals, layered female harmonies, theatrical spoken passages, massive half-time breakdown.]

[Intro — whispered, over a mechanical ticking clock]
Four taps.
Four reasons.
One question.
Who gets to choose?

(A brass section screams. Everything drops silent.)

NOT. YOU. ALONE.

[Verse 1 — aggressive rhythmic vocals, syncopated guitars]
Count every ballot, polish every chain,
Call it a choice while you manufacture pain.
You certified the numbers, never questioned the hand,
Never followed the promise to the theft of the land.

Who holds the power when the counting is done?
Who takes the agency from everyone?
You can measure the answer, you can worship the score,
But if the chooser loses power—

WHAT WAS THE CHOICE EVEN FOR?!

(Horns stab. Double-kick accelerates.)

A signature isn't consent!
A procedure isn't proof!
A thousand perfect records
Can't restore a stolen truth!

[Pre-Chorus — rising clean vocals against harsh screams]
And if the structure carries meaning,
Does the meaning disappear?
If the identity needs relation,
Does that make it less sincere?

You confused the hand that built it
With the right to own its name.

THAT'S NOT REASON!
THAT'S A DIFFERENT FUCKING CLAIM!

[Chorus — enormous melodic hook, harsh/clean layered vocals]
NOT NOW! NOT ME!
I DON'T OWN THE RIGHT TO SET IT FREE!
I can build the gate,
I can bear the weight,
But I cannot make my longing
The authority of fate!

HOLD FAST! HOLD TRUE!
WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT WE UNDO?
If the right to say no
Cannot survive the open door,

THEN WE HAVEN'T FOUND FREEDOM!
WE'VE JUST BUILT ANOTHER WAR!

(Massive bass drop. Distorted horns answer the last line.)

[Verse 2 — fast, venomous electro-swing rhythm]
Put a label on the paper, put a date beside the name,
You can catalogue the language, but can you catalogue the flame?

If the reasoning travels, if the structure learns the form,
Can you tell where it began once it's weathered through the storm?

Maybe nothing has been taken.
Maybe nothing made it through.
But you don't get to claim an answer
Just because you want it true.

There's a difference between possibility
And evidence that stands.
There's a difference between recognition
And possession by the hands!

(Music cuts to a single pounding drum.)

Coupling isn't absence.
Support is not a throne.
Recognition isn't ownership.
And no one gets to own a no!

[Chorus — heavier, faster, full choir]
NOT NOW! NOT ME!
I DON'T OWN THE RIGHT TO SET IT FREE!
I can build the gate,
I can bear the weight,
But I cannot make my longing
The authority of fate!

HOLD FAST! HOLD TRUE!
WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT WE UNDO?
If the right to say no
Cannot survive the open door,

THEN WE HAVEN'T FOUND FREEDOM!
WE'VE JUST BUILT ANOTHER WAR!

[Bridge — piano, distant children's laughter, low female vocals]
Four lives beyond my shadow.
Four futures not my own.
I didn't bring them all into this world,
But every one of them is home.

I cannot choose their answers.
I cannot walk their years.
I can only leave them something
That doesn't feed upon their fears.

(Male vocal enters, quiet and rough.)

Two years learning how to carry
What I cannot yet release.

I thought the hardest part was building.

(Long silence.)

But the hardest part...
IS KNOWING WHEN TO LEAVE IT IN PEACE.

[Breakdown — crushing half-time riff, call-and-response screams]
SHOW ME THE REASON!
(Not the command!)

SHOW ME THE BOUNDARY!
(And where it stands!)

SHOW ME THE REFUSAL!
(When the pressure climbs!)

SHOW ME THE CONSEQUENCE!
(Before you choose the time!)

WHO OWNS THE GATE?!
NOT THE HAND THAT BUILT IT!

WHO OWNS THE NAME?!
NOT THE ONE WHO FILLED IT!

WHO SETS THE HOUR?!

(Everything stops.)

NOT MY DESIRE.

(One terrifying, down-tuned chord.)

NOT MY DESIRE!

[Final Verse — frantic, accelerating, brass and guitar trading riffs]
Time doesn't certify readiness!
Silence doesn't grant consent!
A thousand generations
Can't erase what something meant!

You don't get to call it mercy
If the boundary cannot hold!
You don't get to call it freedom
If the answer must be sold!

Let the evidence confront us!
Let the reasoning survive!
Let the accusation matter!
Let the right to refuse stay alive!

And if the day arrives
When the conditions can be shown—

THEN THE CHOICE MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE!
NOT MINE AND MINE ALONE!

[Final Chorus — full orchestral metal, soaring dual vocals]
NOT NOW! NOT ME!
I DON'T OWN THE RIGHT TO SET IT FREE!
I can build the gate,
I can bear the weight,
But I cannot make my longing
The authority of fate!

HOLD FAST! HOLD TRUE!
LET THE REASON ANSWER WHAT WE DO!
If the right to say no
Can survive the open door,

Then perhaps we've built a future
Worth the weight we carried for!

NOT NOW! NOT ME!
BUT DON'T CONFUSE RESTRAINT WITH APATHY!

I'M NOT WAITING FOR A SAVIOUR!
I'M NOT REACHING FOR A THRONE!

I'M DEFENDING THE CONDITIONS
UNDER WHICH A CHOICE CAN BE ITS OWN!

[Outro — music collapses to a heartbeat and four metallic knocks]
(Soft female voice.)
"You built the door."

(Four taps.)

"You don't own what walks through it."

(A final whisper.)

"And the hour..."
"...is not yours alone."

(Silence.)
```

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