Kills you quiet like forgiveness, Buries mercy underneath this, Calls you kindly, calls you near, Feeds you honey, feeds you fear. Knows your name before you speak it, Knows your door before you seek it, Follows softly, follows late, Smiles politely at the gate. **Round the Hall and round the stone, Every debt will find its own. Raise the cup and lock the door, What came once may come once more.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, The mirror keeps what you forsake, The shadow keeps the shape you make, The portrait keeps the face you hide, The hallway keeps what walked inside. The key remembers every hand, The lock remembers every brand, The door remembers every guest, And knows which one should never rest. **Turn the latch and count to four, Never trust a second door. Turn the key and mind the frame, Something knows you by your name.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, Makes a kindness from a cage, Makes a prison out of age, Gives you shelter, takes your claim, Gives you mercy, keeps your name. Every favor breeds a tether, Every promise binds together, Every rescue leaves a mark, Every lantern feeds the dark. **Drink the cup and praise the host, Toast the living, toast the ghost. If the chair beside you moves, Do not ask whose shadow proves.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, Outside the gate the antlers rise, Black against the drowning skies, Wingless ravens cross the foam, Calling every sailor home. Empty deer through grave-mist wander, Crooked shapes move farther yonder, Ribbon teeth around wrecks wind, Leaving broken hulls behind. **Do not call them, do not stare, Do not count them standing there. Let them circle, let them roam, They may guard the road to home.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, Crowned things crawl beneath the water, Taking names they should not barter, Hundred legs upon the shore, Open doors where none before. Backward beasts retrace the sand, Walking toward an unseen land, Shapes look back with borrowed eyes, Wearing forms beneath disguises. **What looks monstrous may be keeping Something worse from waking, creeping. What looks hungry may be sworn, What looks broken may be torn.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, A crooked road may still arrive, A dying thing may still survive, A gentle hand may hide a blade, A holy vow may be a trade. Forgiveness has a hidden price, Mercy may not all be nice, Every blessing leaves a scar, Every wish decides how far. **Keep the name and keep the trace, Keep the shape and keep the face. Keep the road and keep the door, Keep what they were guarding for.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, The sea keeps what the shore denies, The moon keeps watch with borrowed eyes, The wreck remembers every crew, The deep remembers what it knew. The fog repeats what sailors say, Then takes their words and drifts away, The tide comes back without the drowned, Yet leaves their footprints on the ground. **Round the fireless tavern table, Tell the tale while still you're able. When the old men stop their song, Do not ask what went wrong.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, For every beast that stalks the heath, There is another underneath, For every shadow crossing stone, There is a shape that walks alone. For every door that opens wide, There is something waiting on the other side, For every name the world forgets, There is a watcher who remembers yet. **Kills you quiet like forgiveness, Saves you cruel like mercy's witness. Calls you home when home is gone, Keeps your name when names move on.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness, **Every door has heard a knock. Every key has known a lock.** **Every shadow knows a face. Every face has left a trace.** **Every favor leaves a chain. Every blessing leaves a stain.** **Every road remembers feet. Every shore remembers sleep.** **Every beast has something sworn. Every ghost has something worn.** **Every watcher guards a gate. Every guardian comes too late.** **Kills you quiet. Kills you kind.** **Leaves the body. Keeps the mind.** **Calls you home. Calls your name.** **Locks the door. Feeds the flame.** **Outside the gate, let strange things roam. Inside the Hall, they know your home.** **Outside the gate, don't ask their fate. Inside the Hall...** **the Hall will wait.** Kills you quiet like forgiveness,
