Flobots - Defend Atlantis lyrics

That was as far as the tide came in
I remember the starfish
And the wails of the sirens then
We replaced the tridents, embraced Poseidon
Discovered ourselves living on an island

We flow like water across the lost city
Chalk prophecies and washed off graffiti
Incontinence, trade off for payoff
And high concept then lost to chaos
Many tales radiate from one nexus
Defending a dream of a new directive
A call from the deep sums up the notion
The day when the people bum rushed the ocean
From the beaches they
Ran to meet the day after
Underneath the waves
Won't repeat the same chapter
Knew what they had to do

That which creates life has power
To take it right back
Fucking with the ice caps
We've gotta push the tide back
We can survive collapse
If we don't get sidetracked

If we visualize livin'
Underwater hidden by prisms
Countries fall but people transition
If one for all we live in that vision
Hundred dollar bill origami
Balloon inflation new world economy

We float on tsunami to global warming
We need structures to control what's coming
Corporate monopolies obsolete
That philosophy leaves us lost at sea
But from Marwar to Cochabamba
We are the warriors that won't get conquered
Cause rising tides drown all villages
Divided fighters succumb to pillage
Rescuers, whatever your latitude
It's time to pioneer a new world attitude
Put local cycles first
We're Global islanders
With nothing left to plunder
From the beaches they
Ran to meet the day after
Underneath the waves
Won't repeat the same chapter
Knew what they had to do

For centuries human beings have pursued
The meaning of Atlantis
Central to their teachings is
That it's existence
Answers man's essential questions
Much like the feeding of the five thousand
Even if the facts aren't accurate
The story's magic is alive

Of utmost importance to
Divert the impertinent
Atlantis holds the answer to man's
Ills at their most pertinent
Aspersions easily dispersed when
I certainly answer
The most diverse aversions when
At first they channel

Is that all you hold for a warrior's role?
The ground shakes to claim my country
Not my soul
I thought I toiled for the loss in the waves
And I will not tire, I'll die no slave

If the sea's my grave, I sleep with my city
My people, my oath, my shame, my city
Is that I can not save my city
From the waves that claim you
And curse the gods who can't
Explain who to blame
At the end of the rain, heed me

The season passes Atlas
His keeps in the sediment
Failing monumentally and leaving no
Monuments to see only sea to shining sea

And survival hinged on the
Ascent by the humble
And the sirens wailed as the empire crumbled
With nothing to plunder, corporations drowned
Waves clapped like thunder and stormed
The gates with sound
Forming a new nation now

As the ice caps melted, water levels rose
We raised our hands together and
Made the levees hold heels in the sand
We revealed the depths below

The population of starfish exploded
From the ocean
Survival we unified to focus on
And the voices were many but we spoke as one

As the tale was retold, we multiplied
And swelled across the fault line
To halt the tide
We let the altars die to keep our pulse alive

And from the barren wastelands of naked trash
We stitched together a shelter
From fallen nations' flags
And chose to build a future
From an ancient past

The Crowns of Thorns were worn
We put the tritons down
We found new forms of anchors
Deep inside the ground
The world is an island now
The world is an island now