The Waiting Water [ENG]

Written by John Paul Bantigue WOLFE & EU (feat. WOLFE) BMI • IPI/CAE 01366401460 © 2026 John Paul Bantigue ℗ 2026 John Paul Bantigue • JP Bantigue Records jpbbantigue.com I have waited longer than any shore has stood, counted centuries in the space between the tides. I've let a thousand vessels pass — untouched, unclaimed, unnamed. Patience is the oldest thing I own, older than the stars that learned to burn. None of them were ever mine to keep, none of them were ever what I wanted. I only watched. I only waited. That was enough, until tonight. Something moves within this hull tonight — a weight I did not summon, yet I feel. Not warning, not a storm I've made myself — a pull I've never carried before. I did not want your ship. I did not want your names. I only wanted her — and that was enough to take you all. Rain now. Only rain. Soft on water still deciding. Every wave I hold grows restless now, mirroring a thing I cannot name. Not rage — not yet — just rising weight, a tide that answers to no moon but hers. I was never cruel. I was never kind. I am only what the deep has always been — patient until I am not, still until I can't stay still. Take — I never learned to take with care. I only take with everything I am. Forgive the ships. Forgive the names. I never wanted them. I wanted her. And now she's here. And now she's mine. And I feel — nothing new. No answer in her weight against my current. No warmth returned for all I've done. I have her now, and I have nothing — the same as every wave before. The rain falls lighter now. I am ashamed of what stillness costs. I will not sing tonight. I will not move. Let every ship pass safely now — I have already taken all I'll ever take.