Intro
We thought the walls were made of stone
We thought the flags would lead us home
But nothing built to touch the sky
Ever learned how not to die
Verse
I watched the palace windows burn
Gold turning black at every turn
The streets where we first learned to dance
Are barricades and broken glass
I kept your picture in my coat
Beside the words you never wrote
They say the last train leaves at ten
I don’t know if we’ll meet again
Pre-Chorus
I used to think they’d spare the innocent
That love could make us different
But when the gates come crashing in
No one asks where love has been
Chorus
When empires fall, they fall on everyone
On every daughter, every son
On every promise we believed
On every heart still up its sleeve
When survival is the only law
They’ll burn the bed, they’ll break the door
And if they have to choose who stays—
Love is just another thing they’ll trade
We swore that we were not expendable
But ashes don’t choose what they bury
When empires fall, when empires fall
Even love becomes collateral
Verse
I heard your name across the square
Turned toward the sound—you weren’t there
A soldier told me, “Keep in line”
As if a life could wait its time
I sold the ring you gave to me
For water and a place to sleep
Forgive me if that sounds obscene
But diamonds don’t mean anything
Pre-Chorus
I used to think I’d die before
I’d lose the things worth living for
But hunger makes a traitor fast
Even sacred things don’t last
Chorus
When empires fall, they fall on everyone
On every daughter, every son
On every promise we believed
On every heart still up its sleeve
When survival is the only law
They’ll burn the bed, they’ll break the door
And if they have to choose who stays—
Love is just another thing they’ll trade
We swore that we were not expendable
But ashes don’t choose what they bury
When empires fall, when empires fall
Even love becomes collateral
Verse
I made it past the northern wall
With nothing much to own at all
Your picture soaked through in the rain
Your face disappearing at the edges again
They asked me what I’d leave behind
I almost laughed, then almost cried
A house, a name, a history—
And you, if that’s the cost of me
Pre-Chorus
If I survive and you’re not there
Does that mean I chose not to care?
Or does the body make its choice
Long before the heart can raise its voice?
Bridge
If I could reach you, I would say
I never meant to walk away
I only ran because the flame
Doesn’t care who bears the blame
And if you asked me, I’d confess
I chose my breath above the rest
Not because I loved you less
But living makes its own requests
So if the maps erase our names
If strangers build upon our graves
If history calls this victory—
Who writes down what it cost to leave?
We were not kings
We were not wearin’ crowns
Just two small hearts
When the world came tumblin’ down
Chours
When empires fall, they fall on everyone
No chosen few, no special ones
Every promise, every dream
Gets weighed against necessity
When survival is the only law
There are no saints left anymore
We save the hands, we lose the rings
We learn the price of everything
We swore that we were not expendable
But ashes don’t choose what they bury
When empires fall, when empires fall
Even love becomes collateral
Post-Chorus
Collateral
The photographs, the wedding walls
Collateral
The names we carved, the midnight calls
Collateral
The future we were counting on
When everything must be expendable
How could love be the exception?
Outro
If you’re alive, remember me
If you’re alive, don’t wait for me
I chose to live
I hope you did
And that’s the cruelest part of it
We didn’t fail
We didn’t fall
We loved each other through it all
But when an empire saves itself
It leaves no sacred thing untouched
And somewhere underneath it all
Two lovers disappear
When empires fall.
