The Poisoned World
Every breath is borrowed now,..
The Poisoned World
[Verse 1]
A sky burns low in embered haze,
poisoned winds move through the plains.
Once-mighty towers, fractured bone,
a graveyard of steel where no birds roam.
The river crawls like rusted blood,
dragging oil through fields of mud.
Empty windows watch the road,
holding shadows of the lives they knew.
[Pre-Chorus]
We taste the metal on our tongues,
hear the warning sirens hum.
Every breath is borrowed now,
but we are breathing somehow.
[Chorus]
In this poisoned world, we remain,
walking through the fire and rain.
It took our homes, it scarred our names,
but it has not taken everything.
When the blackened heavens fall,
we will answer when they call.
This poisoned world may take its toll,
but it will never take us whole.
[Verse 2]
We learned to sleep beneath the ground,
to speak in whispers, make no sound.
We counted water, shared the flame,
and taught the children every name.
We carried photographs and seeds,
a book of songs, a bag of dreams.
The smallest things became our gold,
a hand to hold against the cold.
[Pre-Chorus]
We taste the metal on our tongues,
but still the old songs can be sung.
Every breath is borrowed now,
and still we breathe it somehow.
[Chorus]
In this poisoned world, we remain,
breathing smoke and walking rain.
It took our homes, it marked our skin,
but something human lives within.
Across the water, through the flame,
I hear another call my name.
This poisoned world has brought us low,
but we are not the last to go.
[Verse 3]
Vines coil through the hollowed stone,
green returning where steel had grown.
Between the cracks, the flowers rise,
small revolutions under ash-grey skies.
We found a valley past the smoke,
where one clear stream still ran below.
We built with timber, glass and wire,
and guarded every living fire.
[Bridge]
The earth remembers every wound,
every buried drum of poison underground.
Every forest stripped, every ocean sold,
every promise broken for another piece of gold.
But we remember something more,
the hands that opened every door.
The ones who stayed, the ones who shared,
the ones who proved that someone cared.
We are not innocent.
We are not clean.
We are the children
of the killing machine.
The earth remembers every mark we left,
every drill, every spill, every debt.
But we can choose
what rises next.
We can become
more than what we left.
[Final Chorus]
In this poisoned world, we remain,
planting roots beneath the rain.
It took our homes, it scarred our names,
but it could not take the will to change.
When the blackened heavens clear,
we will still be standing here.
This poisoned world may bear our blame,
but from its ruins, life will wake.
In this poisoned world, we remain,
not untouched and not the same.
We carry loss, we carry flame,
and teach tomorrow not to make
the poisoned world again.
[Outro]
A bird moves through the embered haze.
One note breaks the silent plains.
The earth remembers
and, so do we.
Lyrics and composition by Mark van Jaarsveld
Music and vocal performance generated using AI-assisted production tools
Cover art: “MVJ-Every breath is borrowed now” by Mark van Jaarsveld
© 2026 Mark van Jaarsveld
