Ashes Ain’t Cold

Soft acoustic guitar, maybe with bowed strings moaning low in the back I kissed her goodbye in a rust-colored dawn The fields were already bleeding, but the fight dragged on Said “I’ll be back when the crows fly straight,” But the sky just laughed, and sealed her fate. --- The war took years, but I lost her first, In a letter unsigned, in a dream rehearsed. Buried her ring in the mud-soaked snow, Now I drink to the ghost only I still know. The fire burns down but the smoke don’t rise, Just curls ‘round the heart like barbed wire lies. And every shot I took came back to weep, In the arms of the girl I couldn’t keep. --- Ashes ain’t cold, they whisper her name, In the shell of a house, in the shadow of flame. I lived through the war, but I died in that bed— Where her voice went silent and the roses bled. --- Her grave’s near the river, just past the bend, Where the trees don’t bloom and the roads don't end. There’s a scarf I left tied to the cedar post, And a hymn on the wind that still loves her ghost. I carry her photo like a wound I trust, Pressed in a Bible, covered in dust. Sometimes I speak, and I swear she hears— Through the silence between my deepest fears. --- They say the world spins on, but I don’t see, What good is time if she ain’t with me? I ain’t asking God for another chance— Just a minute of quiet, just one more dance. --- Ashes ain’t cold, they whisper her name, In the black of my sleep, in the light of my shame. I came back home, but I walk with the dead— Every breath is a prayer I forgot I said. --- Her name’s on the stone, but she’s etched in my bones… …and the war still howls in my soul alone. ---