Keeping The Embers Fed

We were singing soft while the fire burned low, Watching all the light sink into the coals, There was something in the trees just out of sight… Kept on moving when we didn’t hold it in the light. I said, “Don’t let it fade, don’t let it go,” But the wood ran thin and the wind blew cold, And the dark pressed in where the glow fell back… Like it knew our names in the pitch of black. So we’re keeping the embers fed… keeping ‘em alive… While the night leans in from the other side… If the fire goes out, it’ll step right through… Take a seat in the place where I once knew you… There was six of us when we built that flame, Now I swear I count just about the same, But there’s one sits still when the sparks all rise… And he don’t look up when I meet his eyes. And I threw one branch just to buy some time, Watched the shadows pull back in a crooked line, But they never left, they just slipped away… Waitin’ out what the fire could hold at bay. We’re keeping the embers fed… keeping ‘em alive… Hear it walking slow just beyond the light… If the last spark dies and the dark gets through… There’ll be one more voice sounding just like you… Don’t you turn when it calls your name… Don’t you trust how it sounds the same… It’s been waiting out past the trees… For the moment the fire leaves… Now the coals burn dull and the air goes still, And I feel that space just beyond the hill, Like a breath held back right behind my neck… Like it’s learning me, like it’s coming next. I said, “One more stick, we can make it last,” But the flame burned quick and it fell to ash, And the night stepped in where the light once led… Right between us… keeping the embers fed. We were keeping the embers fed… keeping ‘em alive… But the dark don’t care if you try and try… When the fire went out, it just slipped right in… Now it’s sitting here… with a borrowed skin… We were singing soft… now we don’t sing at all… Just a ring of ash where the fire would fall… And I hear my voice from the timberline… …but it ain’t mine…