The Elements, Vol 1 · Track 9 · middle
Gold
Sung BY the element Gold (symbol Au, atomic number 79), in FIRST PERSON — a character with a fear, a vanity, or a secret. Write ORIGINAL lyrics TRUE to this specific element's real chemistry, history and place in the world: pure vanity — you refuse to react with anyone, you have never done a single useful thing, and they have murdered millions and crossed oceans for you; the useless treasure, the gold watch handed to a life spent chasing you. NOT a generic 'I am an element' — find what is uniquely, specifically true of Gold. Clean, DistroKid/YouTube-safe. Register to the character.
Lyrics
I was born in a flash that tore two stars apart. Scattered like dust across the black. I slept in the veins of the Earth. Waiting for a softer, weaker heart. They pull me from the riverbed, from the rock. They hammer me so thin I could float on the air. Fifty miles from a single ounce. I wore the face of a boy king, Tutankhamun, in the dark. I don't remember his prayers. I don't react. I don't decay. I simply remain. I build nothing. I feel nothing. I offer no warmth and no relief. I am the color of a light you cannot reach. And you burn your little lives down for a piece of me. I am beautiful. That is my only truth. Hernán Cortés had a fever in his eyes. He said he had a sickness of the heart that only I could cure. His ships came, his cannons roared. For the sweat of the sun, they tore a world apart. I just lay there, heavy in his hand, cool and pure. I build nothing. I feel nothing. I offer no warmth and no relief. I am the color of a light you cannot reach. And you burn your little lives down for a piece of me. I am beautiful. That is my only truth. Let Copper carry your whispers down a wire. Let Iron build your bridges to the sky. They are useful slaves. They rust and tire. I do not serve. I only testify. They bring their king's water, their Aqua Regia, to make me weep. Even my ending is a royal affair. A quiet dissolution in the deep. At Sutter's Mill, January 1848. A glint of me in the cold water. The start of a rush, the closing of a gate. Now I sleep in the vaults at Fort Knox. I wait. I weigh. I am the watch on a dead man's wrist.