Roots of Karametra - Beneath The Branches

I was raised where the gardens touched the city Where the rooftops bloomed with thyme Where the elders taught the children Every living thing takes time And the market smelled like cedar Fresh bread and crushed rosemary No one shouted over hunger No one bought another’s grief The old women sang at sunrise To the vines along the wall And the vines climbed higher listening Like they understood it all You are not alone here Even silence has a place Every root beneath the pavement Still remembers how to pray We belong to one another Leaf and feather, bone and rain Every wound becomes a river When the whole world shares the pain And the trees still rise around us Though the empires came with flame There is music in surviving There is healing in the name Oh— Hear the chorus beneath the branches Oh— Life was never meant to stand alone The healers grow their medicines Beside the kitchens and the schools No child learns the shape of violence Before they learn compassion first And the soldiers plant the orchards When the border winters pass Because strength is not domination It is carrying what lasts There are statues made of rootwood Of the nameless and the kind Those who fed the poor in silence Those who gave without being seen Every grave returns to gardens Every ending feeds the spring Death is only one more lantern In the cycle of becoming We belong to one another Leaf and feather, bone and rain Every wound becomes a river When the whole world shares the pain And the trees still rise around us Though the empires came with flame There is music in surviving There is healing in the name Oh— Hear the chorus beneath the branches Oh— Life was never meant to stand alone No throne above the canopy No god demanding fear Only hands held through the darkness Only voices drawing near And if someday all this crumbles If the stone forgets our names Let the forests say we loved well Let the rivers say the same We belong to one another Root and blossom, dust and flame Every soul becomes a lantern Passed between us in the rain And the world keeps growing greener Anywhere compassion stays There is no divide between us Only life in different shapes