[Intro, spoken reflection, piano motif, distant wind] I have walked many roads since that night… more years than I ever believed I would see. But there is one place my memory never leaves. A forest beyond a broken fence. A sky full of smoke. And a man who told me to keep running. I have come back now, after all these years… to remember. [Verse, soft piano motif, mournful violin, fragile female vocal] The forest was endless that evening black branches against the sky the ground still trembling beneath me with thunder where others died Gunfire fading behind me echoes through leaf and stone I ran through the silent timber terrified and alone The night wrapped cold around me the world a shadowed sea but somewhere within that darkness freedom was waiting for me [Chorus, orchestral swell, emotional female vocal] The forest gave me my future the life that I came to know but the forest took you from me so many years ago You turned back toward the fire while I ran toward the trees and every step of my long life was bought with that moment of bravery The forest saved my breathing but the forest took you [Verse 2, piano and strings rising] The years became quiet seasons towns, and faces, and days children laughing in sunlight worlds so far from that place But memory walks beside me through every year I’ve known a voice inside the silence guiding me safely home I carried the weight of living when others fell that night a life built on borrowed mornings and one man’s final fight [Chorus, larger orchestral lift] The forest gave me tomorrow the years I was given to live but the forest took you from me and the love I could never forgive Still every breath I have taken every road I have known was born from the night you chose to let me run alone The forest saved my breathing but the forest took you [Bridge, quiet orchestral reflection] I forgive the uniform you wore the orders that shaped your name for in the end you chose the path no command could ever claim Not obedience not fear not the world that forged your past Only a single human choice to help another live at last [Final Chorus, powerful orchestral crescendo, choir accents] The forest gave me a lifetime more days than I deserved to see but the forest took the man who gave that life to me And now I walk these trees again where the frightened girl once ran older now, but unafraid remembering your hand Step soft step slow the words you whispered then Step soft step slow until we meet again [Outro, soft piano motif returning] The forest is quiet tonight. The wind moves gently through the branches. And for the first time since that night… I am not running anymore.
