[Male vocal] [Instrumental intro: night crickets, soft bansuri] [Verse 1] He searched the golden city Every hall and every tower Through the feasts and through the sleepers Hour after silent hour Till a garden in the moonlight Showed him what the dark concealed One who waited by a tree With a grief that wouldn't heal [Verse 2] He did not drop down before her He did not reveal his face A stranger in a guarded garden Only frightens in that place So he hid among the branches And he softly told the tale Of the one who'd sent him searching Till she listened through the veil [Pre-Chorus] Only then he came down slowly Only then he held it out [Chorus] [Low male chorus joins, hushed] UNG-goo-LEE-yuh-kum A ring that bore a name She knew the hand that sent it She knew the one who came CHOO-daa-MUH-nee A jewel from her hair Proof he'd found her, carried home Proof that he was there [Verse 3] And she gave him more than jewels For a jewel can be stolen So she told him one small story Only two had ever known it Something from a quiet morning Long before the world went wrong Proof no thief could ever borrow Proof that carried its own song [The Prophecy] [Spoken, elder, slow, drone and crickets] He did not lead with the ring. He led with the story. Show the proof too early, and even true proof looks like a trick. And when he went home, he did not say, I found her. He opened his hand. Proof goes there. Proof comes back. And the best proof is the one only the source could know. [Final Chorus] [Low male chorus returns softly, then rises] UNG-goo-LEE-yuh-kum A ring that bore a name She knew the hand that sent it She knew the one who came CHOO-daa-MUH-nee A jewel from her hair Word is only word, he knew Proof says: I was there [Kokopelli Whisper] [Whispered, crickets fade] Bring proof there. Bring proof back.
