[VERSE 1—HER] The old house groans with promises unsaid Floorboards hold the echoes of a vow you left for dead I set a place for you at supper every night A phantom chair, a phantom plate, the fading evening light Some call it madness, this waiting by the sill But I know better—you’re remembering still. [VERSE 1—HIM] I walked away when the leaves were turning red With a soldier’s bag and a heart full of lead They gave me a medal and a box of folded flags But all I brought home were these invisible bags I haunt the roadside where the wild roses climb Counting the miles and the passing of time. [CHORUS—TOGETHER, HARMONIZED] 'Cause ghosts don’t break their oaths They just forget the way back home Bound by the words they spoke in smoke To the living, to the lost, to the barely awoke Through the veil, through the years, through the afterglow Ghosts don’t break their oaths… they just wander slowly. (A second guitar enters, clean and shimmering with reverb. Soft brush drums.) [VERSE 2—HER] The townsfolk say I should move along That a heart can’t beat to a ghost’s old song But I hear you humming in the kettle on the stove In the creak of the gate, in the groove your boot soles wove You’re in the frost that paints the windowpane at dawn A promise waiting, never gone. [VERSE 2—HIM] I tried to cross the river and tried to find the shore But every path just leads me back to your door I’m caught between the moonlight and the morning dew Between the man I was and the ghost I grew into I wear my silence like a uniform of shade A prisoner of the promise that I made. [CHORUS—TOGETHER, MORE INTENSE E] 'Cause ghosts don’t break their oaths They just forget the way back home Bound by the words they spoke in smoke To the living, to the lost, to the barely awoke Through the veil, through the years, through the afterglow Ghosts don’t break their oaths… they just wander slowly. (Strings swell—cello and violin intertwine. A subtle, tremolo-heavy electric guitar shivers in the background. [BRIDGE—TRADING LINES, THEN UNISON] HER: Was it the war? HIM: …or the whiskey? HER: Was it the weight? HIM: … or the wish to be free? HER: I don’t need answers… HIM: … I just need a key… BOTH: To unlock this space between you and me Between the shadow and the memory. [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK—HAUNTED INTERLUDE] (Music becomes sparse: only cello, distant piano notes, and the sound of wind chimes made of bone or glass. Their voices hum wordlessly in close harmony—a lament without words. [FINAL CHORUS—CALL AND RESPONSE, THEN UNISON] HER (CALL): GHOSTS DON’T BREAK— HIM (RESPONSE): —THEIR OATHS! BOTH: They just forget the way back home! HIM: Bound by the words they spoke in smoke— HER: —to the living, to the lost— BOTH: —to the barely awake! HER: Through the veil… HIM: …through the years… BOTH: …through the afterglow… Ghosts don’t break their oaths… they just wander… (pause) …home? (Music falls away to almost nothing—just the acoustic guitar and a single, sustained cello note.) [OUTRO—WHISPERED, OVERLAPPING G] HER: The tea is still warm… HIM: The path is still worn… HER: I’ll leave the lamp on… HIM: Until the dawn… BOTH: Until the dawn. (A single, soft piano chord rings out. The sound of a door creaking open—or closed. Silence.)
