[Intro — deep slow hum, distant metallic knock, voice enters in high falsetto, vast and calm, far above the mix] Below the storms, below the light, A steel room holds against the night. And in the room, against the cold, A small flame does as it is told. [Verse 1 — falsetto carrying steadily, the knock in slow time, deep pressure-drone beneath] I am the water. I hold the hull. I feel each heartbeat, faint and full. They closed their doors, they made their count, They set a watch the dark can't rout. I press their walls — I mean no wrong. The pressing is my only song. And through my weight, from steel confined, I feel them writing. Words. A line. [Chorus — stacked falsetto wall, restrained, like deep current] The sea keeps all that it is given — The ships, the bells, the unforgiven. But words weigh nothing in my deep: The letters are not mine to keep. They wrote them upward, through my night — And what is written swims toward light. [Verse 2 — the knock slower, the drone deeper, falsetto unwavering] One by one the small flames bank, One by one the warm sounds sank. No cry came up. No blame came down. They finished all their work aground. The last hand moved a final phrase, Then folded, patient, done with days. I took the warmth, as I must do. I could not take the words. They flew. [Chorus] The sea keeps all that it is given — The ships, the bells, the unforgiven. But words weigh nothing in my deep: The letters are not mine to keep. They wrote them upward, through my night — And what is written swims toward light. [Bridge — the knock is gone; the drone alone, falsetto at its most exposed] Ask me not why. I do not choose. I am the weight. I cannot lose. But hear what only water knows: They were not broken at the close. The room was calm. The list was read. "Do not despair," the last line said. [Final Chorus — full restrained wall, slow] The sea keeps all that it is given — The steel, the years, the unforgiven. But words weigh nothing in the deep: The letters were not mine to keep. They rose without me, through the night — What's written upward reaches light. [Outro — the hum receding, the voice vast and quieting] The room is silent. The watch is done. I hold the vessel. They held the [End — cut to silence mid-word, no tail]
