[Intro — detuned music box, observatory machinery, faint wind, distant electrical hum] [Verse 1] Red light on the observatory stairs Your old message in my coat The dome turned slowly over me Like a question made of smoke Through the glass, a blue-white ember Burned where nothing now remained I had mistaken late arrival For a promise that had stayed [Pre-Chorus] Distance makes an ending gentle When it reaches us too late We mistake what keeps arriving For a thing that chose to stay [Refrain 1] The sky can keep a ghost for years And make it look alive I kept loving what had ended Because its light still reached my eyes Every night I called it faithful Every dawn I let it stay Never knowing some things finish Long before their light gives way [Instrumental — music-box motif over low drones] [Verse 2] Your message held a passing car And rain against the phone You laughed before you said my name Like neither of us knew How far a voice could keep on traveling After everything had changed How something gone could sound so close And still be out of reach [Pre-Chorus] The star stayed bright above me Though its fire had disappeared And your voice kept crossing distance Long after you were gone from here [Refrain 2] The sky can keep a ghost for years And make the distance disappear I kept calling it a future Because the memory still felt near But a glow is not a promise And an echo cannot stay Some things finish long before Their last light fades away [Bridge — music box and observatory hum only] I played your final message One last time beneath the dome You still sounded close enough To make the distance feel like home Then the machinery went silent And the cold moved through the room I heard your voice without returning And let the light pass through [Complete silence] [Final Refrain — motif returns higher, but harmony remains dark and unresolved] The sky can keep a ghost for years But distance does not make it mine I can honor what once held me Without living in its light I will keep the warmth it gave me I will let the ending stay Some things finish long before Their last light fades away [Outro — voice, music box, glassy synth, observatory hum] By dawn, the star was still there But I no longer called it home.
