Breath Between Cots

[Verse, minor piano ostinato, breath-close female voice, sparse strings] Low ceiling… lantern fading linen folded at my side pain moves slow through quiet hours while footsteps drift and slide Someone carried through the doorway boots retreat along the floor breathing fills the narrow rows then fades beyond the door [Chorus, suspended chords, layered murmured ensemble, fragile choral texture] Soft voices trading fragments passing bunk to bunk tonight half a sentence, half a warning shared beneath the failing light No one holds the whole of it each word thin and slight yet the pieces gather slowly into something not quite right [Verse 2, uneasy harmonic shift, overlapping prisoner whispers, distant piano] One voice speaks of emptied barracks far beyond the northern yard another swears the trains have halted tracks left empty, silent, barred Someone claims the guards are packing maps and papers late at night no one knows the full confession yet the pieces start to write [Chorus, layered murmured choir, trembling piano pulses] Soft voices trading fragments passing bunk to bunk tonight each retelling bends the meaning tilting fear a little more Half remembered, half imagined breath against the infirmary door still the scattered bits are forming something none can quite ignore [Verse 3, fragile piano return, close female vocal, distant choral hum] More are brought beneath the lantern some dismiss what they have heard others stare along the rafters weighing every fragile word Some believe the tales are nothing night-time talk to calm the air others feel a colder ending moving slowly toward us here [Bridge, rising dissonant cluster chords, overlapping ensemble murmurs] If the camps are fading quietly wiped away without a trace then the ones who filled those barracks vanish with the emptied place Listen to the breaths around you count the bodies through the night every rumor turning slowly toward a single thought in sight [Final Chorus, returning piano motif, fragile layered choir] Softly spoken, barely daring one voice sets the notion free If the waiting ends in silence there is only one decree Others carry it uncertain bunk to bunk in fragile breath Better risk the wire at midnight than lie still and welcome death