[Intro: Intimate female spoken voice, near silence, sparse harpsichord] “She always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day.” [Brief silence] Even one day. A clock strikes somewhere in London. Light falls across a table. A flower trembles in its glass. Nothing has happened. Yet half a lifetime passes through the afternoon. [Verse 1: Warm contralto, restrained lyrical singing, solo violin enters] A child's laughter returns from another year. A familiar voice rises from an empty chair. We carry the living. We carry the dead. We carry the moments we could never keep. A table laid for dinner. A circle of faces in the light. For one brief hour, the world seems whole. How heavy is love when the hour has passed. [Verse 2: Clear mezzo-soprano, floating melody, delicate harpsichord] Years pass through the house. The curtains stir. The dust gathers. The wind enters every room. No one remembers what was said that evening. The sea continues breathing. What is a lifetime against the silence of the stars? A glimmer. A breath. A name upon the water. We give our days such weight. Time lets them fall without a sound. [Short Instrumental Interlude: Expressive solo violin, flowing harpsichord counterpoint] [Duet, sung harmony , Two female voices, intimate call and response] [Contralto] If everything passes, why does one moment hold an entire life? [Mezzo-soprano] If nothing can remain, why does beauty ask us to remember? [Contralto] I have loved the world beyond my strength. [Mezzo-soprano] I have watched it vanish before my eyes. [Final Sung female vocal Duet: Interwoven female harmonies, tender and luminous] The waves rise. The waves fall. Across the restless water, a lighthouse stands. Not an answer. Not a promise. Only a light upon the passing sea. [Outro: Intimate female spoken voice, almost whispered, sparse violin] The weight of all we carry. The lightness of all that slips away. [Brief pause] How can life be so beautiful, yet so difficult to bear? [Instrumental Outro: Solo violin and delicate harpsichord, quiet unresolved cadence, fade to silence]
