(Verse 1) Where the marble temples kissed the sky And the kings wore crowns that could never die Now the wind just whistles through broken stone And the throne is a shadow, the king is bone The market sang with a hundred tongues The poets wrote what the brave had sung Now the scribe's hand is a fossil's trace And the gods have forgotten this place (Pre-chorus) You can build your walls to heaven's gate You can tell the stars you control your fate But the hourglass never learned your name And the dust remembers every flame (Chorus) This is an empire of dust, a kingdom of ash Every pillar falls, every throne will crash The conquerors come, the conquerors go And the wind just buries what they used to know Oh, you can carve your name in steel and stone But time collects everything it's ever known Bow or burn, crumble or rust We all become the empire of dust (Verse 2) I walked the halls where the generals planned A million boots marching through the sand Now a lizard sleeps on a shattered map And the victory speech is a forgotten rap The treasury held the world's weight in gold Now the spiders weave where the wealth was sold The queen's last mirror shows only the sky And the monuments learn how to die (Pre-chorus) The children ask, "Who lived here, Dad?" And I say, "No one you could have had" The names on the plaques are fading fast Like a future that never lasts (Chorus) This is an empire of dust, a kingdom of ash Every pillar falls, every throne will crash The conquerors come, the conquerors go And the wind just buries what they used to know Oh, you can carve your name in steel and stone But time collects everything it's ever known Bow or burn, crumble or rust We all become the empire of dust (Bridge) I used to fear the end of things The closing door, the broken wings But now I watch the ruins breathe And I find a peace I can't bequeath The only empire that never fades Is the one that lives in the choices made Not in the marble, not in the gold But in the story the dust will eventually hold The pharaoh, the czar, the president, the slave All meet the quiet that the ruins crave The same wind touches every face And time leaves no permanent trace (Guitar / Instrumental break – melancholic, with distant desert winds) (Final chorus – slower, more reflective) This is an empire of dust… a kingdom of ash The loudest thunder becomes the quietest crash The builders come, the builders go And the dust is all that remains of the show Oh, you can write your legend across the sun But the chapter ends when the race is run No crown survives, no sacred trust We all return to the empire of dust (Outro – spoken/sung, very softly) "I sat on a fallen column today." "A bird landed next to me." "It didn't care who sat here before." "Neither did the sun." "Neither did the dust." [Gentle wind, a single bell toll in the distance, then fading to silence]