[Intro]
[Twelve-string guitar plays the thunder motif slowly, then turns the final note upward.]

I used to call the sunrise mine.
The sun rose anyway, on time.

[Verse 1]
I knew each mountain by its scar,
Each shepherd’s fire, each sailor’s star.
I heard the wheat before the rain,
The wooden wheels along the plain.
Kings sent bronze and poets sent praise;
Smoke climbed straight through summer haze.
I took each offering as proof
That heaven had one rightful roof.

[Chorus]
I used to own the sky,
Or so I told the earth below and called it why.
I wore the blue and made the thunder testify;
Every cloud became a banner passing by.
I used to own the sky—
But no one owns the road where weather flies.

[Verse 2]
The sky was older than my throne,
It crossed the seas before my bones.
Rain fell for those who knew no name,
And lightning never signed my claim.
I stood within a moving thing
And called its motion “rule of king.”
The power passed through hand and vein;
I mistook serving weather for being rain.

[Pre-Chorus]
A roof is held so others sleep;
A promise matters when you keep.
A storm is guided, not displayed;
A debt is answered, not delayed.

[Chorus]
I used to own the sky,
Or so I told the earth below and called it why.
I wore the blue and made the thunder testify;
Every cloud became a banner passing by.
I used to own the sky—
But no one owns the road where weather flies.

[Instrumental]
[Hammond and electric guitar develop the inverted three-note motif.]

[Verse 3]
Athena’s message waits un-red:
“The eagle’s eating. He raised his head.”
Below it, one from flat sixteen:
“The laundromat has flooded clean.”
No worship asked, no title due,
Just water rising, work to do.
I button up the crimson coat
And walk toward home without a royal note.

[Bridge]
I cannot make the years return,
Unbreak the lock, unscorch the burn.
I cannot order love to stay
Or thunder consequence away.
But I can carry, drain and mend—
Not every fall requires an end.

[Buildup]
[The 6/8 pulse tightens and changes into firm 4/4.]

No herald walks before my feet.
No eagle circles over the street.
I have no throne to justify.
I have two hands beneath the sky.

[Final Chorus]
I used to own the sky,
Now I know I only watched it passing by.
I wore the blue but never taught the clouds to fly;
The rain was never mine to sell or certify.
I used to own the sky—
Today I’ll serve the ground and not demand to rise.
No crown, no claim, no alibi:
I never owned the sky.

[Outro]
[The inverted motif resolves on acoustic guitar and low organ.]

The morning clears.
The rooftops shine.
The sky moves on.
It was never mine.