1453 Constantinople (feat. Eduardo Burrowes)

In the shadows of Byzantium the final chapter's penned Where the golden gates of Constantine would see their bitter end The city of a thousand years its walls so proud and tall Now trembles 'neath the Ottoman who comes to see it fall From the shores of Bosphorus to Hagia Sophia's dome The whispers of a dying age the echoes of a home The cannons roar the crescent soars the blood-red moon ascends As Mehmet's dream of conquest nears the empire's twilight bends Oh Constantinople the city of our dreams Your glory fades to shadows as history redeems In the dark of night your light grows dim The final bell is tolling the hymn of a requiem The emperor Constantine stands firm within the breach His heart a blaze of courage though victory out of reach With sword in hand he leads his men against the tide of fate For freedom or for martyrdom they stand before the gate The walls that stood a thousand years now crumble in despair The hope of Christendom now caught in Mehmet's snare The cries of fallen heroes the wails of those who bleed A symphony of sorrow as the city's heart concedes Oh Constantinople the city of our dreams Your glory fades to shadows as history redeems In the dark of night your light grows dim The final bell is tolling the hymn of a requiem Hagia Sophia once a church now echoes with new prayers The minarets rise to the sky amidst the people's stares A city torn a faith reborn in the wake of victory The cross replaced the crescent raised in somber history The streets run red with sacrifice the stories carved in stone The empire's heart is shattered its spirit left alone Yet in the ashes of defeat a phoenix may arise For even in this darkened hour a new dawn lights the skies The legacy of Rome is sealed beneath the Ottoman's reign Yet in the hearts of those who dream its memory shall remain For history is but a wheel that turns with time and tide And in the fall of empires new destinies collide Oh Constantinople the city of our dreams Your glory fades to shadows as history redeems In the dark of night your light grows dim The final bell is tolling the hymn of a requiem So sing the song of sorrow the ballad of the brave For Constantinople's fallen yet its spirit we shall save In the annals of the ages the tale shall ever be Of the city by the Bosphorus and its tragic destiny