The Mirror and the River

[Intro] clean pulsing acoustic guitar in 6/8, soft hammered dulcimer accents, low frame drum entering like a heartbeat [Verse 1] High in the tower where the rushes bend She wove by candle flame Threads of the road and the reaping fields But never touched their names The river moved like a hidden hand The willows leaned and sighed And all the world went passing through The glass where she could hide [Pre-Chorus] Thread by thread, the days were spun Gold and gray and blue But every song the river sang Was calling something true [Chorus] Down, down, down to the river The mirror cracks, the night grows still One look toward the distant towers One hand on the window sill Down, down, down to the river Let the silver waters roll She traded all the shadows For one true glimpse of soul [Verse 2] She watched the lovers in the lane She watched the farmers pass She watched the children chasing crows Like ghosts inside the glass No hand to hold, no door to close No footstep on the stair Only the loom, only the thread Only the weight of air [Pre-Chorus] Thread by thread, the days were spun Gold and gray and blue But every song the river sang Was calling something true [Chorus] Down, down, down to the river The mirror cracks, the night grows still One look toward the distant towers One hand on the window sill Down, down, down to the river Let the silver waters roll She traded all the shadows For one true glimpse of soul [Verse 3] Then came a rider bright with rain A flash of steel and fire The road awoke beneath his horse The wind became a choir She heard the bells beyond the fields She felt the old world turn And all the years inside the glass Began to break and burn [Pre-Chorus] Thread by thread, the spell came loose The tower shook with sound She turned her face toward living light And let the dark fall down [Chorus] Down, down, down to the river The mirror cracks, the night grows still One look toward the distant towers One hand on the window sill Down, down, down to the river Let the silver waters roll She traded all the shadows For one true glimpse of soul [Instrumental Break] driving fiddle melody, toms rising, mandolin shimmer, hammered dulcimer answering like breaking glass, electric guitar swells underneath [Bridge] She wrote her name where none had looked She laid her weaving by The moon bent low above the reeds The stars refused the sky No cry for help, no backward prayer No bargain left to make She chose the world that broke her heart Over the one that kept her safe [Final Chorus] Down, down, down to the river The mirror cracks, the night grows still One look toward the distant towers One hand on the window sill Down, down, down to the river Let the silver waters roll She traded all the shadows For one true glimpse of soul [Outro] They found her name beneath the bridge They found her song in rain And sometimes when the moon is full The river sings again High in the tower, candles fade The broken glass lies cold But somewhere past the silver reeds Her story still is told