The Bell Beneath Blackroot

[Intro] [Distant bell resonance] [Cold wind through dead trees] [Wet footsteps in mud] Three mornings passed. Yet no dawn came. Only the bell... Still ringing. [Verse I] The road was black with rain and pine. No birdsong crossed the broken sky. Branches leaned where none had stirred. The woods bent inward. Not a word. Still ringing... Somewhere far beneath the trees. [Breath pause] We walked in silence through the cold. Not heroes. Only tired souls. One carried fire beneath his cloak. One whispered prayers no god still spoke. And every mile the ringing came. Not louder. Only nearer. [Low bell pulse joins percussion] [Verse II] There was a man who answered once. We found his lantern days away. Still lit. Still swaying in the dark. No body. No footsteps. Only mud beneath the flame. [Silence] The wind moved strangely through the pines. Like iron dragged across old memory. One among us spoke in sleep. Though no eyes among us fully closed. [Hook] Still ringing... Still ringing... Some bells are not meant for prayer. Still ringing... Still ringing... Some doors are closed for mercy. [Industrial sub bass swell] [Verse III] No smoke. No candle. Wells sealed shut. Only the ringing. Deeper now. And one door at the chapel’s end... Left open from within. [Breath audible] The village watched without its eyes. Grey faces standing near the stone. Mouths still moving. Borrowing prayers From gods who stopped listening Long before they did. [Long silence] [Bridge] I had walked this silence before. Not this road. But this silence. They are not the same thing. And they are not different. [Distant female whisper] If a familiar voice speaks softly through the fog... Keep your eyes upon the fire. [Silence] [Final Hook] Still ringing... Still ringing... Some bells are not meant for prayer. Still ringing... Still ringing... Some doors are closed for mercy. We did not walk there as heroes. Only weary souls chasing dawn. But Blackroot Hollow... Forgot the sun long ago. [Outro] The fire grew smaller. The woods grew near. And somewhere beneath the chapel... Something heard us arrive. [Single distant bell strike]