[Intro: solitary electric cello, low bowed drone, sparse piano notes] [Electric cello slides slowly upward, then stops short of resolution] [Verse 1] I knew you before I knew your face, Before your voice gave me a name. You looked at me like something buried Had pushed its way awake. Your hand found mine without permission, Your breath caught hard against my skin. A life I watched the ages swallow Started beating there again. You wore no memory in your eyes, Still something in you knew. The first thing left of all creation Was how I turned to you. [Pre-Chorus 1: bass enters beneath sustained cello] I watched the heavens close above me. I watched your grave close too. Now every law I ever shattered Stands here breathing back at you. [Chorus: full band enters, broad downtuned chords] I fell for you Before they taught the stars their place. I fell from every hand that held me, Every oath and every grace. I fell for you, And I kept falling when you were gone. Through every age that failed to kill me, I was falling all along. [Verse 2: drums settle into slow tom-heavy pulse] I left because the blade was waiting, But you were still the one I left. No threat can make that wound less honest, No reason pays the debt. You raised our blood without me near you. You bore the hunger and the blame. While I made ruin of my sorrow And called vengeance by your name. I told myself I’d bought your heartbeat With every step I took away. But love that leaves to keep you living Still leaves you there to pay. [Pre-Chorus 2: guitars tighten with muted strikes] One choice became a thousand winters. One silence swallowed years. I saved your life and lost it with you— Both truths are standing here. [Chorus] I fell for you Before they taught the stars their place. I fell from every hand that held me, Every oath and every grace. I fell for you, Then fell through centuries alone. Every kingdom turned to gravel. Every road refused me home. [Electric Cello Solo] [Rhythm guitars hold a slow two-chord pulse beneath a low bowed lament] [Cello restates the chorus melody in a low register] [Long glissando rises and fractures into distorted vibrato] [Muted guitar strike] [Cello answers with two harsh double-stops] [The melody descends in uneven steps, pausing between each note as though searching] [Deep bass enters with a slow heartbeat pattern] [Cello climbs into a high aching register] [Rapid tremolo builds beneath controlled feedback] [One violent bowed attack cuts across the riff] [Silence] [A single high cello note returns, cleaner and warmer] [The note falls gently into the opening melody of Verse 3] [Verse 3] You passed beneath a hundred doorways, With different hands and different hair. I crossed one street an hour too early. I left one city; you were there. Once I heard your voice behind me. Once I dreamed your borrowed name. I thought the dead were making mockery. It was you returning again. You died and woke beyond my knowing, While I kept faith with what was lost. You carried us without a memory. I carried memory at any cost. [Pre-Chorus 3: percussion drops back, cello close beneath vocal] You cannot give me back those lifetimes. I cannot ask you to. But you reached for me in this one— And this time, I reached out too. [Bridge: voice, electric cello, and low floor tom only] I can’t return the years they buried. I can’t unmake the lives I broke. My rage outlived the hands that caused it, But rage never brought you home. I won’t demand that you forgive me. I won’t call suffering a plan. You don’t owe love to what I once was. You only choose the one I am. [Cello begins a slow rising phrase] No throne can make me leave you. No law can name the cost. I spent creation serving grief. I know what grief has lost. Choose me now with all your lifetimes. Choose me scarred and seeing through. I gave up Heaven once before— [Full band slams in] I’d give up Hell for you. [Final Chorus: widest arrangement, electric cello soaring above guitars] I fell for you Before they taught the stars their place. I fell from every hand that held me, Every oath and every grace. I fell for you, Through every body, every name. You came back without the memory. I loved you all the same. I fell for you, And I would fall that far again. But I won’t leave to save you now. I’ll stand beside you at the end. I fell for you— Not for the soul you used to be. For every life that brought you home, And every life you’ll share with me. [Outro: guitars fade, piano disappears, lone electric cello remains] [Cello plays the chorus melody slowly, without distortion] [Low intimate vocal] I missed you in a thousand lives. I’m here for every one that’s left. [Final cello harmonic fades into silence]
