[Intro: Low open-string acoustic guitar drone alone; faint bowed fiddle enters underneath. No beat.] Snow covers the headstones. The house holds its breath. Your name sleeps under ice. I speak it to the dark. [Verse 1: One intimate female lead; sparse acoustic guitar. Fiddle holds a low, dissonant note between lines.] Your boots are by the doorway. The frost has climbed the pane. I trace the cracks above me and count them like old pain. They spoke of iron courage. They swore you’d come back home. But winter kept its counsel. The road returned alone. [Pre-Chorus: Two low female harmonies begin to shadow the lead. A faint dry rattle marks the pauses.] You did not fall in glory. No bright fire marked the end. You faded in a frozen field, too far away to mend. [Refrain: Three women in close harmony; low acoustic drone deepens. Hand drum enters softly, with no driving beat.] War’s black gift to love: a name beneath the snow. They folded up your flag and told me I should know. They called your leaving honor. They called my silence brave. They gave me back your name and left me with the grave. [Verse 2: Lead returns alone; acoustic guitar stays sparse. Distant flute answers the vocal between phrases.] I walk among the headstones beneath an iron sky. The ground is locked around you. I kneel, but you don’t reply. The wind cuts through the branches. I call until I’m hoarse. They pressed the flag into my hands and thanked me for the loss. [Pre-Chorus: Low harmonies return, closer and more tense. Bowed fiddle grows slightly louder; rattle marks the pauses.] You did not fall in glory. No bright fire marked the end. You faded in a frozen field, too far away to mend. [Refrain: Three women in close harmony. Hand drum taps sparsely beneath the acoustic drone; keep the delivery hushed and restrained.] War’s black gift to love: a name beneath the snow. They folded up your flag and told me I should know. They called your leaving honor. They called my silence brave. They gave me back your name and left me with the grave. [Bridge: Hand drum and rattle stop. Acoustic guitar drone and bowed fiddle remain. Lead sings close and quiet; the two harmonies enter gradually on the final lines.] The guns have gone to silence. The winter stays awake. Your body lies below me. My heart will not let break. The dead are laid in earth. The living learn to grieve. The war is over somewhere. It never left with me. [Final Refrain: Three women in close, increasingly dissonant harmony. Fiddle sustains beneath the voices; no drum. Do not build to a triumphant climax.] War’s black gift to love: the living left alone. A flag folded in my hands. A cold and empty home. They called your leaving honor. They called my silence brave. I wasn’t widowed till they brought me to your grave. [Outro: Voices fall away. Acoustic guitar alone; one low chord rings into silence.] Snow covers the headstones. The dark keeps what it knows. I speak your name once more. The frost does not let go. [Bridge: Hand drum and rattle stop. Acoustic guitar drone and bowed fiddle remain. Lead sings close and quiet; the two harmonies enter gradually on the final lines.] The guns have gone to silence. The winter stays awake. Your body lies below me. My heart will not let break. The dead are laid in earth. The living learn to grieve. The war is over somewhere. It never left with me. [Final Refrain: Three women in close, increasingly dissonant harmony. Fiddle sustains beneath the voices; no drum. Do not build to a triumphant climax.] War’s black gift to love: the living left alone. A flag folded in my hands. A cold and empty home. They called your leaving honor. They called my silence brave. I wasn’t widowed till they brought me to your grave. [Outro: Voices fall away. Acoustic guitar alone; one low chord rings into silence.] Snow covers the headstones. The dark keeps what it knows. I speak your name once more. The frost does not let go.
