[PRE-INTRO] [SFX OCEAN SOUNDSCAPE] [Adagio | 6/8] [Voice: female contralto, pp, legato, murmuring, a cappella] Hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm… hmm… hmm-hmm… ooooo… [INTRO] [Adagio | 6/8] [Voice: female contralto, pp, breathy legato, solo voice] “Take heed, take heed, O Veil of the Sea…” His voice, a ghostly cry. It rode upon the salted wind, Then vanished with the tide. [VERSE 1] [Adagio | 6/8] [Voice: contralto, mf, legato] [Acoustic guitar: **gentle strumming (thumb-down / fingers-up pattern)**] Those crimson shores where anchors broke, And storm-clouds bruised the sky; A captain called her silent name, But none returned reply. [CHORUS] [Moderato | 6/8] [Choir: male baritone, f, legato; contralto harmony last 2 lines] [Acoustic guitar: **dynamic strumming, accented beats 1 & 4**, light body-tap on beat 6] What cost, what toll, O Veil of the Sea? What oath did silence buy? She was the light of her people’s pride, Now lost to wind and sky. [VERSE 2] [Moderato | 6/8] [Voice: contralto + baritone choir, mf] [Acoustic guitar: **strumming intensifies, palm-mute beats 2 & 5**] He sailed beyond the western foam To chase her fading trail; He cast his fate upon the waves, With hope too frail to sail. [BUILD-UP] [Accelerando poco a poco | 6/8 → quasi 3/4 feel] [Voice: contralto & choir, mf ➜ f, **EXTREME RANGE tag on final line**] [Acoustic guitar: **percussive body-taps every bar, chord stabs on down-beats**] But what he saw upon that shore Was not what fathers dream; When faced with steel and leaping flame, His daughter did not scream **[EXTREME RANGE]** [CLIMAX CHORUS] [Allegro con brio | 6/8] [Voice: contralto belt (ff, F5–G5), full baritone choir (ff, harmony)] [Acoustic guitar: **strong open-chord strumming, no palm-mute, rasgueado on down-beats**] AND DROWNED BENEATH A SKY GONE BLACK, BY BLOOD AND DUTY TORN, HE CRIED TO STARS AND SCATTERED FOAM: “LET NONE OF HER BE MOURNED!” **[EXTREME RANGE]** [INTERLUDE] [Adagio | rubato] [SFX OCEAN SOUNDSCAPE returns softly] [Optional low choir hum pp] [CODA] [Andante | 6/8] [Voice: contralto, mp ➜ p, restrained] [Acoustic guitar: **light arpeggios, diminuendo**] I hear it still upon the breeze, A whisper lost at sea… “Take heed, take heed, O Veil of the Sea.” “Take heed…” [pause] “Take heed…” [dramatic pause] [Spoken whisper, dry reverb, low-pass] …of me. [End]
