Paper Burning is a protest song about systems under stress — about how structures meant to preserve meaning can become fragile, performative, or disposable.
It slows the moment down and asks what we notice when we stop reacting. It doesn’t offer solutions or ask for alignment; it leaves the response with the viewer.
This work is best experienced in one uninterrupted viewing. Let it play through.
Lyrics
The ink has faded on the parchment lines
Voices once clear are drowned in lies
I hear the echo of a musket’s flame
Calling us back from whence we came
Paper burning, freedom torn
The flag is tattered, the eagle worn
If we don’t rise, we will be undone
The last republic on the run
We trade our honor for a fleeting crown
We tear our friendships, we cut them down
The world is watching as we divide
A house that’s broken cannot survive
The cities smolder, the fields grow cold
Dreams of the young are bought and sold
The world remembers the oath we swore
To guard the freedom we can’t ignore
Peril in silence, peril in shame
Peril in power that knows no name
But the people’s voice can still be strong
If we remember where we belong
Paper burning, freedom torn
The flag is tattered, the eagle worn
If we don’t rise, we will be undone
The last republic on the run
I hear the cannon, I hear the call
Stand together or surely fall
The shot once fired still shakes the ground
It’s in our hands what happens now
