[Intro]
Dust on the windshield, dawn on the line
I trace the river where the old pines used to shine
A whistle in the gorge, a distant crow's cry
Time runs its reel of days gone by
[Verse 1]
I walked this bankside in a quiet, patient hour
Where the water kept a memory, and the trees kept their power
The birds stitched silver songs into the air like prayer
And my hands remembered the way the world used to wear
[Pre-Chorus]
Before the concrete rose and the schedules made their claim
Before the sirens woke the forest to a colder frame
I spoke to the wind, I swear I could hear the earth reply
That love is a shoreline, and we are boats in the tide
[Chorus]
Oh, the river learned a new name for pain
Oh, the mountains wore a cloak of gray
If I listen close, I can hear the old days call my name
And I hold on—till hope comes back again
[Verse 2]
Now cranes scrape the sky where a blue jay used to dart
The rap of the bulldozer rings where a shoreline once started
The trunks stand sleepless, like sentries without a dawn
I tell my own blood that this wound can be drawn back to calm
[Pre-Chorus]
After the steel and glass keep growing over our sleep
After the memory of rain falls softer and deep
I pace the edge where the water used to kiss the shore
I promise the quiet will return to speak once more
[Chorus]
Oh, the river learned a new name for pain
Oh, the mountains wore a cloak of gray
If I listen close, I can hear the old days call my name
And I hold on—till hope comes back again
[Bridge]
I’ve kept a photo tucked in my mug of courage: a birch, a bend in light
I’ll fan the smoke with sunrise, let the branches forgive the night
If memory can be a compass, I’ll steer through the wreck and bloom
There’s a chorus in the wreckage waiting to resume
[Chorus]
Oh, the river learned a new name for pain
Oh, the mountains wore a cloak of gray
If I listen close, I can hear the old days call my name
And I hold on—till hope comes back again
[Outro]
Time lapses on, and I walk the edge where green begins to mend
A future-sized twig of dawn sprouts from the end
The birds circle back like old friends over the grain of dawn’s refrain
And I believe the shoreline will breathe again
