Hollow Crowns

Look closer
It's lighter than it looks

Golden heads with paper spines
Smiling big, avoiding lines
Everyone wants something clean
Without the mess of standing in
You swear allegiance when it's warm
Disappear when weather turns
Calling distance self-respect
While leaving bridges half-burned

Funny how loyalty sounds poetic
Until it asks you to stay
Funny how everyone's honest
As long as there's nothing to pay

Hollow crowns, polished lies
Heavy words that don't survive
Wear them proud, wear them loud
Till the echo fades tonight
You want power without roots
Want the throne without the truth
All these hollow, hollow crowns
Break the moment they're pushed

You say: It's never that deep
Till it cuts you open wide
Then suddenly it's personal
Suddenly you ask me why
You don't fall, you slowly bend
Each excuse another step
Calling silence being kind
When it's fear you won't confront

Everyone wants loyalty
But only when it's free
Everyone loves the word forever
Till it asks for consistency

Hollow crowns, polished lies
Heavy words that don't survive
Wear them proud, wear them loud
Till the echo fades tonight
You want power without roots
Want the throne without the truth
All these hollow, hollow crowns
Break the moment they're pushed

Loyalty isn't loud
It doesn't beg
It doesn't sell itself

It stays when clapping ends

Hollow crowns, watch them fall
When there's no one left to call
No applause, no disguise
Just the weight you couldn't hold
You can keep your fragile throne
I'll keep what I didn't fold
All these hollow, hollow crowns
Were never built to last at all

Some crowns shine
Others just make noise