[Intro] [low chant, wordless, single sustained note] [Verse 1] I was a stone before I was a name Left out on a Montana field to weather A hand that wasn't blood picked me up anyway Paid my chains off, called it something better [Pre-Chorus] I carry his debt like a stone in my coat Not grief, just gravity, just what's owed [Chorus] So I stack the cairns along the road For the ones who'll pass this way half-broke Every stone's a name I couldn't save in time Every stone's a porch left with the light still on A marker, not a monument Just here, just this, just gone [Verse 2] Salt water black as scripture off the bow Equator night, no moon to name the water by I stood on steel and watched the dark not answer how A man survives the order that never came, and why [Pre-Chorus] I carry that sea like a stone in my coat Not grief, just gravity, just what I know [Chorus] So I stack the cairns along the road For the ones who'll pass this way half-broke Every stone's a name I couldn't save in time Every stone's a porch left with the light still on A marker, not a monument Just here, just this, just gone [Bridge] [hand percussion enters, slow build] Twenty years I drove her home the long way round Sunset through the windshield, delivery bag between us Turns out the porch light never left the ground It was waiting on the stoop for us to see it [Final Chorus — full choir swell] So I'll stack the cairns till the road runs out For the ones behind who'll need to know the route Every stone's a name, every name's a light Every light's a debt I'm paying forward, not back A marker, not a monument Just here. Just this. Still here. [Outro] [piano alone, single note, fade to chant hum, silence]
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