Medicine Woman - Split Halo

[Intro - 9/8]
[Tribal rattles, distant chanting, doom riff fades in]
[Whispered chant: "Ay-ya-ya-ya... Ay-ya-ya-ya..."]

[Verse 1 - 9/8]
She found me fractured in the canyon
Where I'd gone to finally disappear
Said "Child, you're speaking to the shadows
But the ancestors are here"

Painted ash across my forehead
Smoke circles rising with her prayer
Said "You've been drowning in their poison
Let me show you sacred air"

[Pre-Chorus - 9/8]
She said call the thunder, wake the sleeping
The path back home begins with pain
Trust the ritual, trust the keeping
Medicine woman knows your name

[Chorus - 4/4]
MEDICINE WOMAN, TEACH ME
How to find the bones beneath the lie
MEDICINE WOMAN, REACH ME
Show me how the wounded learn to fly
Earth beneath my feet, fire in my chest
Guide me through the dark to what comes next
MEDICINE WOMAN, LEAD ME
Back to who I was before I died

[Verse 2 - 9/8]
She brewed the bitter tea in silence
Said "This will burn but heal you clean
Some wounds require violence
To excavate what lies between"

Drums beating time with my collapsing
Rattles shaking loose the grief
She held my hand through the unmasking
Whispered "Now you can believe"

[Pre-Chorus - 9/8]
She said call the thunder, trust the breaking
The self you lost is not the one you need
Embrace the ritual, the remaking
Medicine woman plants the seed

[Chorus - 4/4]
MEDICINE WOMAN, TEACH ME
How to find the bones beneath the lie
MEDICINE WOMAN, REACH ME
Show me how the wounded learn to fly
Earth beneath my feet, fire in my chest
Guide me through the dark to what comes next
MEDICINE WOMAN, LEAD ME
Back to who I was before I died

[Bridge - 9/8 to 4/4]
[Chanted backing: "Ay-ya-ya-ya, hey-ya-ya-ya"]

She said "You think you're broken, child
But you're just shedding poisoned skin
The ritual's supposed to be this wild
Destruction is where healing begins"

"BREATHE THE SMOKE, FEEL THE BURNING
SPEAK YOUR TRUTH INTO THE FLAME
THIS IS THE GREAT RETURNING—
YOU'RE REMEMBERING YOUR NAME"

[Breakdown - 4/4]
She taught me this:
You cannot heal what you refuse to feel
You cannot rise from ashes you won't burn
She taught me this:
The medicine tastes like death at first
But resurrection always hurts

[Final Chorus - 4/4]
MEDICINE WOMAN, THANK YOU
For the fire that brought me back to life
MEDICINE WOMAN, I SEE THROUGH
The fog, the lies, the self-made strife
Earth beneath my feet, flames inside my chest
I found my way through darkness to what's next
MEDICINE WOMAN, I HEAR YOU
And I'm rising from the ashes NOW

[Outro - 9/8]
[Chanting continues with rattles]
Ay-ya-ya-ya... (I remember who I am)
Hey-ya-ya-ya... (I'm finding my way home)
[Her voice fades but the drums remain]
[Doom riff resolves to major chord]
[Rattles fade into silence]

[End]