///*****/// [Intro] Twelve strings in a hollow room One match against the dark [Verse 1] I was nineteen in a borrowed coat Standing in the parking rain Ticket stub gone soft in my pocket Like a promise I could not explain There were strangers pressed against my shoulder Every one of us alone the same Then the houselights fell like water And somebody called our name [Pre-Chorus] And I felt the whole world lean Toward one single sound Every broken heart inside that building Finally laying its armour down [Chorus] We were candles in the coliseum A thousand small and shaking flames Holding up the only light we had And nobody asked our names Sing it loud enough to save us Sing it soft enough to stay We were candles in the coliseum Burning the dark away [Verse 2] There was a girl with her hands above her Crying like the song was hers There was a man who had buried his father Singing every single word And I swear the roof came open And the whole of heaven leaned in near Twenty thousand kinds of lonely Turned to one enormous cheer [Pre-Chorus] And the boy I used to be Is standing in me still With his lighter and his aching And his beautiful stubborn will [Chorus] We were candles in the coliseum A thousand small and shaking flames Holding up the only light we had And nobody asked our names Sing it loud enough to save us Sing it soft enough to stay We were candles in the coliseum Burning the dark away [Verse 3] There was a kid up in the rafters In his father's leather coat Twenty years and forty cities And that kid is nearly smoke But he still can hear the count-in And the roar before the first And he still goes out on Fridays With that old unquenchable thirst And the ones who stood beside him Are the ones who stand there yet With their lighters and their voices And their beautiful regret [Pre-Chorus] So we lift them up again For the ones who did not last For the boy up in the rafters And the fire he could not cast [Bridge] Some of us went home to nothing Some of us went home to war But we all went home with something We had never held before A little fire in the ribcage That the years could not ignore [Guitar Solo] [Final Chorus] So light them up in the coliseum Every small and shaking flame Hold up the only light you have And I will do the same Sing it loud enough to save us Sing it soft enough to stay We are candles in the coliseum Burning the dark away [Coda] And if you ever feel it leaving And the world goes hard and cold Just remember twenty thousand Held a light up in the old Held a light up in the darkness And it did not fall apart Every one of us was burning Every one of us had heart [Outro] Burning the dark away Oh, burning the dark away One match against the night And it is enough tonight And it is enough tonight Oh, it is enough tonight Burning the dark away
