[Verse 1] I wrote my name on a library card Then watched the ink fade pale and thin The clerk shut down the lights at closing And every borrowed room went dim You asked me what I wanted left here I pointed toward the window glass A face that vanishes when morning comes A handprint no one thinks to ask [Pre-Chorus] The water takes the stones one by one It never tells me where they go I stood with both hands empty And felt the cold begin to grow [Chorus] If the river won’t keep me, I’ll keep the hope I’ll carry the ember wherever I go Let the current erase every mark that I wrote I’ll name what mattered and refuse to let go If the river won’t keep me, I’ll keep the hope I’ll keep the hope [Verse 2] The town put my picture in a cardboard box Beside old keys and a broken bell By winter no one knew the photograph But I knew the story it could tell There was a girl with a yellow raincoat Who shared half her bread with me There was a man who fixed the chapel door And left it open for the weak [Pre-Chorus] The water climbed the riverbank The bridge gave way beneath the snow I heard the dark say, “Nothing lasts” And almost let the answer go [Bridge] No witness, no stone, no final word No choir waiting at the shore Still I can lift one life from the mud Still I can choose what I’m living for I’ll teach the silence every name I’ll hold the thread through wind and flame If memory is a house that falls I’ll build it in the hearts of us all [Final Chorus] If the river won’t keep me, I’ll keep the hope I’ll carry the ember wherever I go Let the current erase every mark that I wrote I’ll name what mattered and refuse to let go If the river won’t keep me, I’ll keep the hope When the last light bends and the black water rolls I’ll be more than the trace that the undertow stole I’ll keep what we gave, I’ll keep what we know If the river won’t keep me, I’ll keep the hope I’ll keep the hope [Outro] At dawn I found a stone in my hand Warm from the place where I chose to stand The river moved on, but I did not The river moved on, but I did not
