Witness of Wood and Dust

[Intro] Whispered rings in the soil, I listen slow Roots keep the time, decades come and go I am the breath beneath a hundred suns Old boulders tell me tales of what was done [Verse 1] Stone walls bloom, then wither like a tide Carved prayers fade, a season’s shifting pride Dust on the ribs of statues, I keep The memory of empires that forgot to sleep [Pre-Chorus] I watched their banners blaze and drift away Dust settles where their laughter used to stay [Chorus] I am the forest who remembers all Footnotes of glory, rise and fall And through the years I hear them call Leave only whispers, I cradle the pall [Verse 2] They came with iron drums and rolling drums of fate Found their brief horizons, then surrendered to the gate Vines replace the columns, quiet now and vast I tally every footprint in the living ash [Pre-Chorus] Their stories flicker like storms across my leaves I hold their echoes in the hush between trees [Chorus] I am the forest who remembers all Footnotes of glory, rise and fall And through the years I hear them call Leave only whispers, I cradle the pall [Bridge] Season to season, I endure the weather of time Seeds birth futures I cannot rhyme But in every root and ring a verdict gleams: What fades, then returns, in childlike dreams [Chorus] I am the forest who remembers all Footnotes of glory, rise and fall And through the years I hear them call Leave only whispers, I cradle the pall [Outro] When the sundown sighs and the hills forget my name I’m here, a patient witness to the flame and rain I keep their dust like stars in a quiet hall Evergreen witness to the rise and fall