Finale: The Golden Nation

Come closer, children. These old ears don't hear quite like they used to.

Seventy years I've walked this earth. And fifty years ago today, your grandmother stood at the beginning of a revolution.

Oh, you should have seen this kingdom then. Gold on every rooftop. Gold in every ballroom. And yet, there were people who had never held a piece of their own future in their hands.

Your great-grandmother was a queen. Her daughters fought over a throne. Your grandfather was a working man who dared to stand among the people.

And I?

I was a girl who thought the world belonged to whoever wore the crown.

I watched my father face the palace,

I watched my mother guard its doors.

I watched two sisters stand together,

As the people cried for something more.

The prince who called the people forward,

The strangers who became our friends,

The family scattered by the seasons—

Oh, children, every story ends.

Your ancestors have gone before you,

Their hands are resting in the clay.

But every seed they left beneath us

Still has something left to say.

And winter came, as winter does,

And took the names we thought would stay.

The old king's house grew quiet,

And the gold began to fade away.

But listen, children, listen well—

The kingdom did not disappear!

We changed the meaning of its promise

When we learned that every voice was dear.

We chose our leaders, not by blood,

Not by the riches they possessed.

The Golden Nation of People rose

When we refused to settle for less!

EVERYTHING YOU NEED IS IN THE GARDEN!

The seed, the soil, the rain, the sun!

The courage to begin together,

The strength to finish what we've begun!

You do not need a fortune

To know what justice means.

You do not need a royal name

To plant tomorrow's dreams!

Everything you need is in the garden!

The future waits beneath your feet!

But nothing grows if no one tends it,

And freedom dies if we retreat!

Now, I won't tell you that we made it perfect.

No, darling. People are people. We disagreed. We stumbled. We had to begin again.

Freedom isn't something your ancestors can hand you like an old family photograph.

It's something you must keep choosing.

And today, you have a choice.

Not because I told you who to choose.

Not because your grandmother lived through a revolution.

But because your voice belongs to you.

*Ensemble*

Remember the garden! Remember the ground!

THE KINGDOM OF GOLD WAS NEVER THE CROWN!

IT WAS EVERY SOUL THAT WOULDN'T BOW DOWN!

Everything you need is in the garden!

Everything you need is in the garden!

Everything you need is in the garden!