Mean What You Say

Mean what you say, Chief. Say what you mean. The colony was Promise, glassed to a sterile shine. They named their ship for Tolerance, with human lives confined. Then Harmony gave the orders, like cruelty could be clean. Funny thing about words, Chief: you knew exactly what I mean. We came for coordinates, a road behind their lines. We found our people breathing where all their good words lied. Mean what you say, say what you mean. A promise lives when you keep it. Mean what you say, say what you mean. No ship's name makes a prison clean. Chief, we knew the difference before the ring. Still with me, Chief? Still here. You never wasted language. I never let the silence rule. You measured every angle. I measured what the fear would do. Different kinds of discipline, same promise underneath: free the living in that vessel; leave the pretty lies to priests. History loves a title. A soldier trusts the proof. I never needed speeches, Chief. I knew what you would do. Mean what you say, say what you mean. A promise lives when you keep it. Mean what you say, say what you mean. No ship's name makes a prison clean. Chief, we knew the difference before the ring. Still with me, Chief? Still here. You never called yourself a hero. I never had to call you one. I called you Chief and fought beside you. That was how the work got done. No grand words between us. No audience to please. Just a promise in the doing, and our people on their feet. Mean what you say, say what you mean. A promise lives when you keep it. Mean what you say, say what you mean. No ship's name makes a prison clean. Chief, we knew the difference before the ring. Still with me, Chief? Still here.