**When Empires Forget To Grieve**

lo-fi afro-cuban jazz, harpischord acid jazz, celtic cloud rap, garage · 3:44

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Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Paul Gilroy speaks of empires past
Postcolonial wounds that always last
When nations lose their stolen pride
They cannot mourn what they must hide
The future shrinks when we can't grieve
The lies that made us all believe

[Chorus]
Melancholia holds us tight
When we can't mourn we lose the fight
The future fades when past won't heal
Depression makes it hard to feel
Break the cycle, face the pain
Only then we'll rise again

[Verse 2]
Darian Leader draws the line
Between the grief that's yours and mine
Mourning has an object clear
Melancholia breeds the fear
Of losing something undefined
A hole that's carved into the mind

[Chorus]
Melancholia holds us tight
When we can't mourn we lose the fight
The future fades when past won't heal
Depression makes it hard to feel
Break the cycle, face the pain
Only then we'll rise again

[Verse 3]
Wendy Brown warns the left today
Don't let nostalgia lead the way
When movements cling to battles won
They miss the fights that must be run
Left melancholy stops us cold
Romanticizing days of old

[Bridge]
Three thinkers teach us how to see
Why futures die from memory
Colonial guilt and personal loss
Political dreams we thought were boss
All become the same disease
When we can't let the past release

[Chorus]
Melancholia holds us tight
When we can't mourn we lose the fight
The future fades when past won't heal
Depression makes it hard to feel
Break the cycle, face the pain
Only then we'll rise again

[Outro]
Supplementary but essential truth
The loss of future starts with youth
When empires fall and dreams decay
We must learn new ways to pray
For tomorrow's hope to find its way
Beyond the ghosts of yesterday

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