Verse 1 M: She was raised on empty cupboards, in a house that shook with storms, M: Learned to be the strong one long before she could be warm. M: Didn't have a choice back then, didn't know why or when, M: Carried grown-up weight in her little hands, longer than hour glass sands. Echo D: carried it bravely, oh, she carried it bravely... Verse 2 M: Then a sergeant looked right through her, said "you're built for more than this," M: She thought they meant the uniform, she didn't know they meant integrity’s blyss. M: Discipline ain't just orders, it's the courage to stand and stay — M: It’s doing the next right action, when instinct is shouting run. Chorus M: She's lighting what was, so she can discover what will be, D: Every scar and every silence made a torch she carries free. M: Not for glory, not for title, not for ribbons on her chest — D: Just a woman built from breaking, not from taking yet from waking. Verse 3 (soft whistle motif enters, soft, under the vocal) M: She wore the stripes and then the oath of public trust, M: Yet she wasn’t measured by medal,s she’s measured by battles won M: She’s helped shaped her spaces through words and acts and faces — M: Always moving forward, setting a path for the ones who'd walk that floor. Verse 4 (fiddle enters, searing, rising under the vocal) M: Then the bottom finally found her, and she finally found the truth: M: Strength without a little grace is just armor, not amy real space. M: Recovery taught her listening, taught her life’s a gift, a present — M: Turned service into privilege, her life no longer discouraged. Bridge M: "How can this help?" That's the question she keeps. D: "How will this help" — echoes even in her sleep. M: people, places, principle, or institution how to help — D: She's just looking for the thread that turns it all to gold. Verse 5 M: Now she holds old boxes like they're holding hands with her, M: Every letter, every photo, is a kind of family tree. M: They say we die twice over — once when breath is gone, M: And once when no one speaks our name — no one carries on. Echo D: Once when no one carries on... Verse 5, continued M: So she's dusting off the past, and staving off that second death — M: Giving borrowed time to strangers with every single breath. M: She's not saving paper, honey, she’s saving people — M: So the people who come behind them know the love that walked before. Final Chorus (full swell — fiddle, harmonica, banjo, both voices) M: She's illuminating what was, so she can steward what will be, D: Every scar and every silence made a torch she carries high. M: Call her veteran, call her student, call her builder, call her voice — D: Just a woman who won’t shirk, growing faithful in her work. Outro (strip back to near-silence; low whistle motif returns) D: Still lightening a lantern, got faithful work to do... still got faithful work to do... A woman only dies once, if somebody remembers her name. Illuminating the past... to steward the future.
