The Currency of Ruin

Money is the beast we worship, Money is the chain we wear. We bow our heads in golden temples, We breathe the incense of despair. It has no heart, it has no mercy, It has no soul, it has no name— And yet we crawl upon our bellies To kiss the feet of its cruel flame. The millionaires are mad as prophets, The billionaires are kings of dust. They sit upon their thrones of paper, And watch the world turn into rust. The presidents are gangsters dressed in suits, They wear the crown of legal theft. They trade our lives like stocks and bonds, And leave our children orphaned, bereft. We traded love for currency, We traded truth for fantasy. We sold our bones, we sold our blood, We drowned our souls in paper mud. Money is the beast! Money is the lie! Money is the reason that we wither and we die! Money is the master, money is the slave, Money is the hunger that we dig into our grave! Money is the ritual, money is the prayer, Money is the sickness in the air! They call it growth, they call it progress, They call it freedom, call it choice. But freedom is a gilded prison, And progress is a dying voice. We work our fingers to the bone, We sell our hours, sell our years— And in the end, we die alone, While someone else collects our tears. And I have seen the prophets weep, And I have heard the angels mourn. They know the beast is in our sleep, They know the beast is in the storm. We pray for rain, we pray for sun, We pray for anything but this— This endless race that we have run, This kiss of death we call success. There is no exit, no salvation, No revolution at the gate. We are the children of the system, We are the children of the state. We are the slaves who love our chains, We are the fools who kiss the whip. We are the ones who bear the blame, And yet we never break our grip. Money is the beast! Money is the lie! Money is the reason that we wither and we die! Money is the master, money is the slave, Money is the hunger that we dig into our grave! Money is the ritual, money is the prayer, Money is the sickness in the air! Money is the sickness in the air! Money... money... It's all we ever had...