Break the Surface

Lyrics

[Intro]
Fire at my back, the sea takes my name.
Black water opens; I vanish.

[Verse 1]
Thrown from a burning longship, I hit the night like stone.
Armor bites my ribs; cold locks its fingers to my throat.
Boots drink the sea; iron drags the map from my bones.
Above, the last coin of light shrinks thin as a blade.
Salt floods my mouth; the fire goes small, a red bruise in the black.
My lungs brace shut; every muscle begs for the easy drop.
I hear the undertow speak in teeth and old oaths.
It says, “Give me your weight.” I curl my fists and keep it.

[Pre-Chorus]
Count the heartbeats, heavy drums against the hull of me.
No prayer, only jaw and tendon, only keep.
Kick the night, find the seam, rip open a way.
Aim at that coin — I won’t be buried where I breathe.

[Chorus]
Let the sea keep steel; it will not keep me.
Chest on fire, I ride the pain like wind.
Black mouth closes — I force my name between its teeth.
Every kick a hammer; every heartbeat speaks.
I cut for the light, I cut for the living sky.
I break the surface — steal the light back from the deep.

[Build]
Unhook the plates; shed the weight into the dark.
Boots loose, fingers numb, don’t drop the compass of your heart.
Hold the breath until it burns clean as iron.
(not yet) (not yet) (not yet)

[Drop]
Hold.
Kick.
Rise.
(never let go)

[Verse 2]
Cold knives my joints; the water speaks in wolves.
I unlace the bracers, let rivets fall like hail.
Ash from the ship drifts down — red snow in the black.
That coin above is thinner now; it flickers, cuts my eyes.
Knuckles split on buckles; I bleed a thread that finds north.
Ribs creak; breath is a spark in a hay of dark.
I shove the cold with both forearms, climb a water ladder.
No hymn, no witness — only teeth and will.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Hear the drum inside me argue with the deep.
Name the undertow “nothing”; step on it with both feet.
Bend the shield of pressure, aim for the screaming thin of light.
Not a grave, not today — I refuse its reach.

[Chorus]
Let the sea keep steel; it will not keep me.
Chest on fire, I ride the pain like wind.
Black mouth closes — I force my name between its teeth.
Every kick a hammer; every heartbeat speaks.
I cut for the light, I cut for the living sky.
I break the surface — steal the light back from the deep.

[Bridge]
If I go under, let iron take my place.
I was not forged to rust in a mouth of salt.
There is breath with my name on it above me.
I take it back.

[Build 2]
Kick, kick — aim for the coin. (hey!)
Hands like hooks in the dark, pull and rise. (hey!)
Blood like thunder, heart says go. (hey!) (hey!)
Open the throat for sky — not yet, now. (hey!)

[Final Drop]
Rise. (hey!)
Breathe. (hey!)
Live. (hey! hey!)
Steal the light back. (hey!)
I break the surface — steal the light back from the deep.

[Outro]
Air finds me; the cold unhooks its jaw.
Ash-sweet sky opens, wide and quiet.
I let the breath go easy.