**December on the Balcony** [Live Transition – applause fades into a quiet winter atmosphere] [Instrumental Prelude – distant church bells, delicate handbells, twelve-string guitar and soft Mellotron] [Verse 1] High above the sleeping street, you stood beneath a paper star. One candle burning by your side, the city moving on below. I could not know what brought you there, or whose return you hoped to see. But in the cold December air, your silence found its way to me. [Chorus] December on the balcony, one light against the dark. A quiet flame, a waiting heart, a window like a star. December on the balcony, though winter filled the sky, you held a little warmth above the restless world below. [Instrumental Passage – lyrical electric guitar, gentle handbells answering the melody] [Verse 2] Perhaps you heard us through the glass, a distant song across the snow. Perhaps you only closed your eyes and let the evening come and go. Then someone stepped into the light and placed a hand upon your own. Two shadows leaned against the rail. You were no longer there alone. [Small Mixed Choir – distant, wordless harmonies] Ah… ah… Ah… ah… [Instrumental Build – Hammond organ, Mellotron choir and slow rising drums] [Bridge – intimate male vocal] Christmas does not heal each wound. It cannot bring each lost year back. But sometimes one familiar hand is all we need against the dark. [Church Bell – one deep resonant strike] [Final Chorus – full band with restrained mixed choir] December on the balcony, one light against the dark. A quiet flame, two waiting hearts, a window like a star. December on the balcony, while bells crossed through the sky, you held a little warmth above and passed it on tonight. [Choir Reprise – warm and restrained] Pass it on tonight. Pass it on tonight. [Long Instrumental Outro – expressive electric guitar carries the chorus melody, handbells return softly] [Final Chord – warm, sustained] [Audience Applause]
