[Intro - sparse, almost still] Three seventeen. Blue light on the glass. Nothing moving between the trees. [Verse 1] Towers standing at the edges Cold reflections, twenty floors Red and violet signs still burning Over empty office doors Down below, behind the pavement Past the railings and the street Old trunks rising from the darkness Roots still buried underneath [Pre-Chorus] No wind yet No traffic Just a branch Moving once Then somewhere in the black leaves One small sound [Chorus - restrained, gradually opening] A forest they missed Still here in the middle Birdsong between towers Starting small A forest they missed With the city all around it Glass above the branches Neon through the leaves And somewhere near the centre Another bird replies [Verse 2] One note from a higher branch now Three notes somewhere farther in Something rustles through the bracken Night is getting slightly thin Windows keep their coloured rectangles Blue and green and pharmacy red While the first grey line of morning Finds the highest branches first [Pre-Chorus] One bird Then another Then five I cannot see The towers haven't noticed But the forest has [Chorus] A forest they missed Still here in the middle Birdsong between towers Growing clear A forest they missed While the signs are still pretending That the night is going on For another hour or two But underneath the coloured glass The morning's coming through [Instrumental - interlocking marimba and bowed vibraphone] [Verse 3] Now the trunks have edges again Moss returns from black to green Spiderwebs collect the daylight Where the neon used to be Someone switches off a logo Floor by floor the windows fade And the birds get even louder As the colours drain away [Bridge - quiet, observational] Maybe someone meant to keep it Maybe no one had a plan Maybe there was something difficult About this piece of land Doesn't matter to the blackbird On a branch above the road It sings Another answers That's enough [Final Chorus - open, not triumphant] A forest they missed Still here in the middle Birdsong between towers Morning now A forest they missed And the glass begins reflecting Trees instead of coloured lights For a little while The city wakes around it The forest woke before [Outro - instruments thinning out] One last neon Clicks off Birds everywhere Daylight between the towers.
