**THE FOREST HAS NO PATH** *[Verse 1]* There is no road through these old trees No painted signs upon the leaves No single trail for all to find No map that's handed out in time Some walk beneath an open sky With sunlight falling all around Some spend their years beneath the shade Where barely any light is found *[Chorus]* This forest has no path No footsteps all must follow Each traveler cuts their way Through shadow, sun, and sorrow Some arrive at rivers early Some never hear them flow The lessons wait beside the trail But not all trails will go *[Verse 2]* Some heard the wolves while still quite young And learned to keep their fires bright Some walked for years with gentle friends And never feared the coming night Some met the winter at sixteen Some never saw the snow at all Some carried burdens up the hills Some walked through valleys broad and small *[Instrumental]* (low whistle, kora, impossible counterpoint) *[Verse 3]* One traveler says, "You should have known." Another asks, "How could you not?" But neither walked the other's woods Or stood where different shadows crossed The one who learned to trust the sun May not understand the rain The one who built a shelter first May speak a different kind of pain *[Chorus]* This forest has no path No single road to wisdom The wolves arrive at different times The sunlight reaches some Some cut through thorn and underbrush Some follow tracks unseen Some spend a lifetime seeking light Beneath an endless green *[Bridge]* Do not mock another traveler For carrying a lesson late Perhaps you met the winter first Perhaps they never met the wolves Perhaps the trees above their head Were thick enough to hide the dawn *[Long Instrumental Passage]* *[Final Verse]* And when at last our trails converge Beside some fire at evening's end We tell the stories of our woods And how we learned to walk again No one arrives the very same No one sees the selfsame sky Each traveler brings a different map Drawn beneath a different light *[Final Chorus]* This forest has no path No measured pace nor order Some stand beside the river now Some still walk toward the water And if another learns tomorrow What you discovered years before Remember that their woods were not The woods that came before your door *[Outro]* The forest has no path Only travelers. Only weather. Only time. And somewhere in the distant trees Another fire. Another lesson. Another road that isn't yours.
