Sword-Heart Ascending

Bare hillside

Single pine, crooked spine in the sky

Rust on my blade

Hands full of cuts, eyes full of light

Cold stream water

I swallow it down with my pride

I walk the path that has no map

Step by step, the void pushes back

Every scar I carve into my skin

Turns to gold, turns to spirit within

Heaven looks down, trying to decide

But I rise, I rise, I rise

Old bamboo slips

Ink long faded, words burn in my chest

Night‑long stance

Knees on fire, breath thin as a thread

Thunder in my bones

Clouds gather, waiting to be split

I walk the path that has no map

Step by step, the void pushes back

Every scar I carve into my skin

Turns to gold, turns to spirit within

Heaven looks down, trying to decide

But I rise, I rise, I rise

If fate is a cage

I’ll sharpen each page

Name etched in stone

Or written in the storm alone (hey!)

I walk the path that has no map

Step by step, the void pushes back

Every scar I carve into my skin

Turns to gold, turns to spirit within

Heaven looks down, trying to divide

Still I rise, I rise, I rise