(Intro) [Instrumental: Delicate fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Soft piano joins with simple, open chords. A faint glockenspiel note sparkles above.] (Verse 1) [Vocal: Gentle, close, heartfelt] I watch you as you’re playing, fearless, wild and bright, The world to you’s a canvas, full of color, full of light. You ask the simplest questions with those wide unbroken eyes, And I can’t help but picture all the manufactured lies. I’ve walked through silent corridors where truth was locked away, I’ve seen the hands that twist the world you’ll live in one day. I carry what I’ve learned like a storm inside my chest, So maybe you can sleep while I refuse to rest. (Pre-Chorus) [Vocal: Slight lift, more emotion] Sometimes I’m scared that all this pain will fall on you, But every step I take is just to change that view. (Chorus) [Vocal: Warm, emotional, strings and light drums in] For the children yet to wake, I sing this quiet song, An unseen shield I try to raise before it all goes wrong. I’ll plant the seeds of questions where they paved the narrow way, So you can find your own true path when night replaces day. For the children yet to wake, I bear this heavy truth, So maybe you can keep your heart, your trust, your youth. (Verse 2) [Vocal: Still soft, etwas fester] They’ll try to shape your thinking, sell you comfort dressed as care, Wrap your life in contracts, sell you pre-approved despair. They’ll say that doubt is dangerous, that questions are a crime, That safety’s worth your freedom, paid in tiny bits of time. I write these words in notebooks you might one day read, About a world that lost itself, devoured by its greed. And if you understand them when the curtain starts to shake, You’ll know why I refused to bend, refused to break. (Instrumental Interlude) [Instrumental: Strings take a gentle, emotive melody. Glockenspiel echoes softly. Guitar and piano keep the harmony calm beneath.] (Bridge) [Vocal: Very intimate, almost whispered, over mainly guitar + piano] I can’t control the ending, can’t promise you a dawn, But I can leave a light on when the road feels gone. And if they call me foolish, if they write me off as mad, At least you’ll know I fought for more than what we had. (Chorus) [Vocal: Fuller, with backing harmonies and richer strings] For the children yet to wake, I sing this quiet song, An unseen shield I try to raise before it all goes wrong. I’ll plant the seeds of questions where they paved the narrow way, So you can find your own true path when night replaces day. For the children yet to wake, I bear this heavy truth, So maybe you can keep your heart, your trust, your youth. (Outro) [Instrumental: Guitar and piano slowly fade, strings hold a soft chord, glockenspiel plays a last, gentle note.] [Vocal: Whisper, full of love] For you. Always.
