[Intro]
[The three-note motif sounds on iron bells before the full band enters in racing 6/8.]

[Verse 1 - Clerk, Male Lead]
Eleven stood beneath the beams where winter daylight thinned,
Their names arranged in speaking order, youngest to begin.
The judge recited charges from the register I kept;
The baker watched from near the door, the shepherd never wept.
The assessor held a second book concealed beneath his gown,
With parcels, tools and orchard lots divided through the town.
Mara saw the leather edge and called across the floor:
[Verse 1B - Mara, Female Shout]
“You sold our homes before you knew what verdicts were in store.”

[Pre-Chorus - Clerk, Male Lead]
The bailiff struck her mouth; the chapel women cried.
The witchfinder demanded that the outburst be denied.
I knew the second ledger—I had copied it at night.
The property was measured before one plea saw light.

[Chorus]
Ring the bells for the innocent, ring them hard and plain.
Not to bless the magistrate or sanctify the chain.
Ring the bells for the innocent; let iron name the cost.
Eleven voices answered, and eleven lives were lost.
Ring the bells for the innocent—three strokes above the square:
One for those who lit the flame, and two for those who stared.

[Verse 2]
Mara named the alder orchard promised to the judge,
The widow’s mill assigned to one who bore the baker’s grudge.
The healer’s room would house the men who guarded prison stone;
The cooper’s tools were listed for the witchfinder alone.
The crowd began to shift and speak; the magistrate stood tall:
“A demon mixes truth with lies to draw the faithful’s fall.”
He ordered every prisoner to confirm the hidden pact;
When none confessed, he called their common silence common fact.

[Pre-Chorus]
My fingers found the letter with her wax beneath my sleeve.
I could have read the altered notes and broken their decree.
Instead I held the table while the seal was pressed in red,
And copied down the sentence that declared eleven dead.

[Chorus]
Ring the bells for the innocent, ring them hard and plain.
Not to bless the magistrate or sanctify the chain.
Ring the bells for the innocent; let iron name the cost.
Eleven voices answered, and eleven lives were lost.
Ring the bells for the innocent—three strokes above the square:
One for those who lit the flame, and two for those who stared.

[Instrumental Break]
[Rapid twin leads climb through successive keys while the bell motif remains unchanged beneath them.]

[Bridge]
At noon the market shutters closed,
Yet every upper window showed
A watching face, a lifted child,
A neighbour frightened, grim or mild.

[Breakdown]
Mara found my face below.
No curse. No plea. Her bruises showed.
She raised one bound and battered hand
As if to call me where I stand.

[Build-up]
First bell—the scaffold timber shook.
Second bell—I dropped the book.
Third bell—ash crossed parchment white.
Eleven names remained in sight.

[Final Chorus]
Ring the bells for the innocent; ring until they crack.
No prayer can give the stolen fields or severed voices back.
Ring the bells for the innocent; let every rooftop know
The court had sold their houses before it judged them so.
Ring the bells for the innocent—three strokes above the square:
One for those who made the law, and two for me standing there.

[Outro]
[The full band cuts to silence after the third descending note.]
Ash fell on the ledger.
I brushed it from each name.
The letters stayed unbroken.
I did not stay the same.
