The Man Behind the Smoke

There is a man behind the smoke There is a boy beneath the name There is a city under mourning Trying to rise again They remember me in pieces White hair, black coat, shaking hands A noble son with polished manners And a thunder no one understands I remember doors thrown open Dinner turned to knives and cries I remember running breathless While my childhood learned to die Then you came with gentle poison Said the pain could have a shape Said the world had made a monster And a monster could be saved But I am the man behind the smoke I am the heart beneath the gun I am more than every nightmare That I loaded one by one I am the man behind the smoke Still reaching for the sun Whitestone, if you still remember Call me back from what I've done Every street had learned to whisper Every window feared the crown The Sun Tree wore the silence Of the bodies hanging down I could hear the people praying I could hear the dead accuse And the demon smiled behind me Every time I had to choose If I answer grief with hunger If I crown the pain as king Then the Briarwoods still own me Through the bullets that I bring But I am the man behind the smoke I am the heart beneath the gun I am more than every nightmare That I loaded one by one I am the man behind the smoke Still reaching for the sun Whitestone, if you still remember Call me back from what I've done I will not let Orthax name me I will not make death my throne I will not trade one tyrant's shadow For a darkness of my own Let the bells in Dawnfather Square Carry more than funeral sound Let the house that fell to ashes Be the place where I am found I am the man behind the smoke I am the heart beneath the gun I am more than every nightmare That I loaded one by one I am the man behind the smoke Still reaching for the sun Whitestone, I can remember How to live when vengeance is done There is a man behind the smoke And he is walking home