Exile by To Die Elsewhere, Tayler Bates

Exile - Single by To Die Elsewhere

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Exile
by To Die Elsewhere, Tayler Bates

Album: Exile - Single

I've been noticing
That I've been losing myself Living in this exile for so long
I am assimilating
I've been so willing
To let go of traditions
If ancestors could see me now They would be weeping

Conforming
To their patterns
Transforming
Shifting matter
I'm a stranger in a strange land
But I'm becoming just like them

They brought me to their sacred temples
They taught me all their unholy rituals
They placed their hands on their hearts and my knees they trembled

Stranger
Give your allegiance to me Foreigner
Bow down at my feet

Blasphemy (Nationally)
Blasphemy (Nationally)

Even my thoughts are in their language now
When I dream I hear their speech somehow
Never use my native tongue any more
And I'm forgetting how

I've watched my people as they stood there hungry
And I wonder if this land was meant for you and me
May we forever stand
True to our God and our native land
In the face of their rising chorus

Stranger
Give your allegiance to me
Foreigner
Bow down at my feet
I will not bow down

I will not bow
I will not bow

I will not bow
Though my feet to the fire
I will not bow
Though thrown to the lions

Can't erase histories written in our genes
Can't silence words of grandmothers still echoing
Persistent
Perseverance prevails
Passed persecution, passed pride, passed pains, passed presidents

Can't cut the roots of a family tree
Dig deeper all you'll find is ancestry
Can't steal our history
Can't steal our history

Stranger
Give your allegiance to me
Foreigner
Bow down at my feet

Stranger (I am the stranger)
Give your allegiance to me (I will not give it)
Foreigner
I will not bow
I will not bow

I've been noticing
That I've been losing myself
But a brief history reminds me where to find my identity