[INTRO: Male bright clear tenor, half spoken half sung, conversational as if leaning in to one listener, fingerpicked 12 string guitar clearly audible and bright, open air wind, sparse, minor key] Come close, let's talk about the ground, The dust we walk on every day. It holds the worst we've ever known, And still it had to be this way. [VERSE 1: Male bright clear tenor, conversational, lead voice forward and fully voiced, fingerpicked 12 string guitar clearly audible, warm bass, sparse, minor key] This dust has drunk the prophets' blood, It holds the tears the martyrs cried, And on a hill outside the city It took the Son of God who died. [PRECHORUS: Male bright clear tenor, gentle but fully voiced, soft heartbeat stomp enters, a turn toward hope] But no tear here is wasted, No grave is the last word, This ground was only a stage For a story still unheard. [VERSE 2: Male bright clear tenor, close and honest, 12 string guitar, soft stomp, brief violin tremolo and scratchy sawing strings in this verse only, minor key] We buried more than we could say, The long nights and the aching bones, The hands we held that slipped away, The grief we carried home alone. [CHORUS 1: Male bright clear tenor, sung as God's promise to the ground, key opens into major, mandolin and clean guitar shimmering arpeggios high and bright, soft heartbeat stomp, warm bass, one female harmony voice on the last line only] I will heal you where you were broken, On the very ground where you bled, Out of the dust, a new beginning, Out of the sorrow, light instead. [VERSE 3: Male bright clear tenor, conversational, minor easing toward major, 12 string guitar clearly audible, clean electric guitar enters, soft brushed groove begins] We could not know how bright the morning Till we had stumbled through the night, Or feel the weight of a joy so true Without the sorrow and the fight. [VERSE 4: Male bright clear tenor, reflective but fully voiced, mandolin and clean guitar arpeggios bloom, brushed groove, hope growing] The ground that staged our sorrow Can't stand through every age, It will be gone, but not forgotten, The last scene on that stage. [PRECHORUS: Male bright clear tenor, gentle but fully voiced, mandolin rising, soft stomp, handclaps join] But no tear here is wasted, No grave is the last word, This ground was only a stage, And the promise has been heard. [CHORUS 2: Male bright clear tenor, the same promise now warmer, major key, female harmonies bloom through the whole chorus, handclaps and soft stomp, mandolin shimmer, clean electric guitar swells, short warm echo on the opening line] I will heal you where you were broken, On the very ground where you bled, Out of the dust, a new beginning, Out of the sorrow, light instead. [POSTCHORUS: Wordless ah harmonies, female and male voices stepping up in layers, mandolin shimmer, handclaps, bright and open] Ah, ah, ah, ah, Ah, ah, ah, ahh [INTERLUDE: Instrumental, mandolin and clean electric guitar trading a sunny melody, brushed groove, morning on open land] [VERSE 5: Male bright clear tenor, bright major, pastoral, 12 string guitar clearly audible, mandolin, clean guitar arpeggios, brushed groove, peaceful] God will not leave the scene behind, Every word He swore will stand, A thousand years of peace will bloom On holy, bruised, and bleeding land. The curse that poisoned Eden's ground Is lifted off at last, The earth breathes green and whole again, A promise kept, held fast. [BRIDGE: Male bright clear tenor close and intimate with 12 string guitar only, then mandolin, warm bass, stomp and handclaps return building at A new earth, bright and open] Before the smoke has even cleared From the old world's last goodbye, A new earth comes down out of heaven, Blazing with a light that cannot die. No more tears, no more night, The proving ground is done, And the story we were made for Has only just begun. [FINAL CHORUS: Key lifts a whole step, male lead forward, female harmonies in full bloom with lower voices first, middle voices next, highest last, handclaps and stomp, clean electric guitar takes a tasteful lead line, mandolin shimmer, bright and open, radiant] I will heal you where you were broken, On the very ground where you bled, Out of the dust and into glory, Out of the sorrow, joy instead. [POSTCHORUS: Wordless ah harmonies, lower voices first then middle then highest, handclaps, mandolin shimmer, radiant and open] Ah, ah, ah, ah, Ah, ah, ah, ahh [OUTRO: One male bright clear tenor alone with a single fingerpicked acoustic guitar, plain and tender, open air wind returns, the last line spoken with a smile] We breathe out. We look up. And all we can do is smile. Now we're talking. [END]
