[INTRO — SOLO PIANO] [Very slow and sparse.] [Leave long spaces between chords.] [Male vocal enters low, close and almost conversational.] [VERSE 1 — THE CELL] There is only one season here The season of sorrow Yesterday circles into today And today becomes tomorrow The sun may burn blue and gold Somewhere beyond these walls But through this narrow window Even daylight barely falls I counted days Till days lost names I carried anger I carried shame And silence learned The shape of me [PRE-CHORUS — CELLO ENTERS] [Keep the vocal restrained.] I thought that pain was only pain A wound with nothing left to teach But somewhere underneath it all Something waited out of reach [CHORUS — FIRST LIFT] [Warm strings enter very softly.] [Do not make this triumphant yet.] Nothing in this world is meaningless Not even what has broken me There may be something buried here That only losing everything could let me see If sorrow is the ground beneath my feet Then let me learn to stand I cannot change the road behind But I can change the man [SHORT PIANO AND CELLO INTERLUDE] [VERSE 2 — SELF-RECKONING] I could blame the world forever I could name each cruel thing I could make these iron walls The only song I ever sing But I know the hand that led me here Was sometimes still my own And the hardest truth I've learned Is one I had to learn alone I had the heights I chose the fall Thought I possessed myself While losing all Now there is nowhere left to hide From what I became inside [PRE-CHORUS — BUILD SLIGHTLY] [Acoustic guitar joins.] [Vocal gains strength.] And after pride has lost its voice After anger spends its flame There is something small and quiet That survives without a name [CHORUS — FULLER] [Broader strings, restrained drums.] Nothing in this world is meaningless Not even what has broken me There may be something buried here That only losing everything could let me see If sorrow is the ground beneath my feet Then let me learn to stand I cannot change the road behind But I can change the man [BRIDGE — DROP ALMOST TO SILENCE] [Piano and cello only.] [Male vocal very exposed.] [Each statement should feel discovered rather than proclaimed.] Where there is sorrow There is holy ground Where there is kindness I have found One silent act One offered hand Can bring a man Back to the land I thought that love Would ask me why Instead it simply Passed me by Then turned And waited [PAUSE] [VERSE 3 — FIRST LIGHT] [Acoustic guitar returns softly.] [Harmony becomes warmer.] I do not want to leave these walls With bitterness for company I will not carry prison out And let it follow after me There is rain still in the leaves There is silver in the grass There are mornings I have never seen There are nights that haven't passed And I must learn How to be happy Not the way I knew before Maybe joy is not possession Maybe joy is one more open door [BUILD — STRINGS GRADUALLY WIDEN] [French horn enters.] [Vocal begins its strongest rise.] I have lost enough to understand What cannot be possessed Love is not the thing we earn It is the thing that finds us when we're stripped of all the rest [FINAL CHORUS — DIGNIFIED, POWERFUL] [Full chamber orchestra.] [Restrained drums and distant choir.] [Male vocal reaches full emotional strength, never shouting.] Nothing in this world is meaningless Not even what has broken me Every scar can become part Of who I still have time to be If sorrow is the ground beneath my feet Then I will learn to stand I cannot change the road behind But I can change The man [FINAL REFRAIN — MUSIC BEGINS TO RECEDE] [Choir very soft.] [Return toward intimacy.] And when you really want love You will find it waiting there Not demanding Not accusing Simply waiting Like the air When you really want love You will find it waiting there [ENDING — SOLO PIANO] [Everything else gradually disappears.] There is more for me to do More to make More to give More to learn I thought this place Would teach me how to die Instead I learned I wanted To live [Hold silence.] [Piano resolves softly.]
