[Verse 1 — slow, fingerpicked acoustic, low and reverent] I gave my hands to the roots and the rain I gave my voice to the wind on the plain The bark crawled up slow, the moss filled the cracks I walked into the forest and I never came back [Pre-Chorus — building, strings enter] A hundred winters, a hundred scars I learned to read the rings instead of stars Then deep in the hollow, in the cold and the dark I found a small light with a golden heart [Chorus — full, soaring, emotional] What the forest keeps, the forest returns In its own time, in its own terms I hold the last seed in these weathered old hands And I'll walk till I find the right land What was lost is alive, it was never gone far It just waited for someone to carry the scar What the forest keeps — it keeps for a reason And the reason is love outlasting the season [Verse 2 — intimate, almost spoken] My skin turned to timber, my tears turned to sap I forgot what I was, I forgot going back But the trees never asked me to stay or to leave They just slowly breathed with me, root, bark and leaf [Pre-Chorus] A flicker of gold in the grey of the grove A warmth I had lost in the long bitter cold The sapling was singing a song I once knew From before the world burned, before it all blew [Bridge — sparse, voice and cello only] You don't have to be whole to hold something sacred You don't have to be strong to carry the light You only have to be willing To walk through the night [Final Chorus — key change, choir swells] What the forest keeps, the forest returns In its own time, in its own terms I hold the last seed in these weathered old hands And I'll walk till I find the right land What was lost is alive, it was never gone far It just waited for someone to carry the scar What the forest keeps — it keeps for a reason And the reason is love outlasting the season [Outro — fades to solo acoustic, single note plucked slowly] Walk on, old man… walk on…
