BLOODLINE [Verse 1] I found the name in the parish book, Faded ink beneath my hand, A soldier, smuggler, gentleman, Who lost his father’s land. The highwayman from the mountain road, The spy they could never find, And underneath his family name Was written one like mine. I followed every broken branch, Every marriage, birth and grave, From the man who crossed those mountains To the name my father gave. [Pre-Chorus] And suddenly the years fell through, Two hundred winters disappeared, The stranger I had followed Had been standing with me all these years. [Chorus] Bloodline, running through the dark, One old name, one hidden mark. From the mountain road to the city light, From another age into my life. Bloodline, written under skin, Every ending starts again. And the woman waiting on the hill Has been waiting for me still. [Verse 2] Then I found another story, In a letter never sent, About the night the great house burned And what the survivor meant. A young woman at the window, Watching something cross the floor, While the candles leaned together And footsteps stopped outside the door. They said the devil came at midnight, They said no mortal left alive, But one woman walked from out the flames Before the roof collapsed inside. [Pre-Chorus] And beside her name a sentence, Written by an unknown hand: “Until the last of them is safe, She walks again upon this land.” [Chorus] Bloodline, running through the dark, One old name, one hidden mark. From the mountain road to the city light, From another age into my life. Bloodline, written under skin, Every ending starts again. And the woman waiting on the hill Has been waiting for me still. [Verse 3] Then I saw her face in charcoal, On a page from long ago, The same green eyes that warned me, The same face beneath the snow. The same woman from the mansion, The same voice beside the flame, And beneath the faded portrait Someone else had written her name. She had loved the mountain rider. She had carried on his line. And every generation after Carried something down through mine. [Bridge] She isn’t living. She isn’t gone. She has been walking All along. One night repeating, One door, one flame, One choice to make Again and again. She cannot leave it. She cannot die. She sees her children Passing by. And when the darkness Finds the line, She comes back One more time. [Instrumental Rise] [Verse 4] Now I understand the warning, Why she found me in that room, Why she told me not to wait there For the final guest to come. She had watched that night already. She knew exactly how it ends. She wasn’t saving some lost stranger. She was saving one of them. One of hers. One of his. One more branch that still exists. [Final Chorus] Bloodline, running through the dark, Through the centuries like a spark. From the highwayman beneath the moon To a man beneath these city rooms. Bloodline, carried through the flame, Different faces, same old name. And the ghost upon the mountain hill Is standing there to guard us still. Bloodline, now I understand, Why she reached and took my hand. Not an angel, not a curse, Something older, something worse— Or something kinder than I knew, Still keeping one old promise true. [Breakdown] And somewhere above the Dublin lights, That house is burning every night. The masks are raised. The candles fall. She hears the footsteps In the hall. But somewhere else A child is born. And she begins again. [Final Refrain] Mountain lights beyond the rain, Calling out my family name. All those roads I thought I’d chosen Were leading back to her again. Bloodline. Through the fire. Bloodline. Through the years. And every time the darkness comes, She is here. [Outro] The first guitar motif returns. A distant female voice: “Go home.” Then silence.
