[Intro] [Fingerpicked acoustic guitar, ambient pad] [Female vocal, soft, conversational] The light shifts amber through September glass Brown corduroy and wool, the seasons pass (always passing) Something ancient stirring in the trees Calling us to remember what we've ceased to see (open your eyes) [Verse 1 - Female] [Piano enters, sparse strings] I found his face carved in the church's stone Celtic spirals woven through his bones (through the years) Green Man watches from the harvest arch Guardian of the dying and the dark (he's still watching) October whispers like my mother's voice Telling me that death is just a choice (let it go) To let the old world fall away like leaves Plant something new in everything that grieves (something new) [Verse 2 - Male falsetto] [Synth pad swells, cello enters] I walked the Schwarzwald where my grandfather roamed He said the forest keeps what can't come home (can't come home) Autumn's not an ending, just a door Between the world we are and what's before (who we were) Shadow figure made of oak and thorn Returning every harvest since we're born (every autumn) Jung would call him archetype of change The wild inside that won't be tamed or strange (won't be tamed) [Pre-Chorus - Both] [Building, layered vocals] We're standing in the threshold now (standing here) September browns and orange vows (fading vows) The death that brings the birth somehow (brings the birth) Can you feel him reaching out? (reaching through) [Chorus - Both, harmonized] [Full instrumentation, emotional peak] He's the sovereign of September skies (sovereign, sovereign) Teaching us to grieve what never dies (learn to grieve) Seventy-four Polaroid light (fading light) Fading into amber night (into night) We're the children of the in-between (lost between) Neither ancient ritual nor machine (what are we?) He's calling from the rust and gold (calling us home) September sovereign, centuries old (so old, so old) [Verse 3 - Female] [Return to sparse, intimate] My grandmother kept acorns in a bowl Said they held the stories of the soul (hold them close) Scottish tales of Cailleach bringing cold But Green Man promised spring would break the mold (he promised us) Modern life forgot these cycles turn We medicate the ache but never learn (never learn) That transformation asks us first to rot To compost who we were for what we're not (not anymore) [Verse 4 - Male falsetto] [Gentle electronic textures weave in] I'm teaching my son about the Irish Samhain Thinning veil between the quick and dying (veil is thin) Not Halloween commercials, plastic masks But how the dark prepares us for the task (prepares us) Of becoming something we don't recognize Shedding summer's easy alibis (shed them all) Green Man doesn't promise us it's easy Just that growth requires we get queasy (growth hurts) [Pre-Chorus - Both] [Building tension, vocal layers] We're standing in the threshold now (we're here now) September browns and orange vows (sacred vows) The death that brings the birth somehow (death and birth) Can you feel him reaching out? (feel it now) [Chorus - Both, harmonized] [Swelling, atmospheric] He's the sovereign of September skies (sovereign, sovereign) Teaching us to grieve what never dies (learn to grieve) Seventy-four Polaroid light (fading light) Fading into amber night (into night) We're the children of the in-between (lost between) Neither ancient ritual nor machine (what are we?) He's calling from the rust and gold (calling us home) September sovereign, centuries old (so old, so old) [Bridge - Spoken word alternating] [Minimal, just piano and ambient drone] [Female, whispered] In the woodwork of cathedrals, he persists (he persists) [Male, whispered] Foliate head emerging from the mist (from the mist) [Female] Neither God nor devil, something older still (something older) [Male] The archetype of dying by our will (our choice alone) [Both, sung softly] To let the green surrender into brown (surrender now) To fall, to feed, to finally come down (come down, come down) [Final Chorus - Both, building to climax] [All instruments, layered vocals, emotional release] He's the sovereign of September skies (sovereign, sovereign) Teaching us to grieve what never dies (learn to grieve) Seventy-four Polaroid light (fading light) Fading into amber night (into night) We're the children of the in-between (we're lost between) Neither ancient ritual nor machine (caught between) He's calling from the rust and gold (calling us home) September sovereign, centuries old (ancient, ancient) [Outro] [Fading to sparse guitar and whispered vocals] [Female, barely audible] The light shifts amber through September glass (amber light) [Male, harmonizing] The seasons turn, they always turn, they pass (turn and pass) [Both, together, fading] Something ancient stirring in the trees (in the trees) September sovereign, bring us to our knees (to our knees) [Final ambient pad fades to silence] [End]
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