[Intro | cello alone | clean tenor enters quietly] What is beauty for? [Verse 1 | deep growl | restrained distorted guitar] An oil slick opens into color Across the water by the drain A stranger stops beside the railing Then struggles to describe the gain No task completed by the looking No hunger answered by the blue Why must the moment earn its keeping? What work is wonder meant to do? [Chorus | soaring tenor | melodic guitar counterline] What is beauty for? What must it give to be permitted? Can a moment ask for nothing? Can they bear to leave it with them? [Verse 2 | low growl | sparse percussion] They lift the flower from the hillside They fix its colors under glass They save the shape and lose the bending The way it changed as people passed A price attached beneath the painting A list explaining what to see When every pleasure needs a purpose What part of pleasure can stay free? [Chorus | sorrowful tenor | cello and guitar] What is beauty for? What must it give to be permitted? Can a moment ask for nothing? Can they bear to leave it with them? [Extended instrumental | cello leads] [Piano and melodic guitar develop separate answering phrases] [Maintain raw bow and string detail | no explosive climax] [Bridge | low growl | single bass note] The color stays Beyond the reason. [Clean tenor] Is that enough To keep them looking? [Outro | cello alone] [Let the melody almost resolve, then turn away]
