BELOVED (On the Backside of the Season)

[Verse I] I did not make you for the moment for the glance, the passing gaze I made you in the quiet hours where love learns how to stay Roses fell before the meaning soft and red without a name They taught my hands how love arrives without asking to be saved [Pre-Chorus] Layer by layer, breath by breath I learned what devotion costs Every touch became a promise every letting go, a loss [Chorus] Beloved you were made to be held Beloved you learned how to tell The difference between glitter and a flame that doesn’t burn Beloved you were never meant to last you were meant to be returned [Verse II] Each bauble learned to listen to the weight of being seen Holding warmth without the fire holding story in between The tree stood like a witness not a spectacle or sign Just a place where love could rest when the world ran out of time [Pre-Chorus] Patina over memory hands remembering the way To tend a thing until it’s finished then set it down and walk away [Chorus] Beloved you were made to be held Beloved you learned how to tell The difference between sparkle and a vow that stays true Beloved I gave the season to you [Bridge] BellaVille at the edges lantern light and ringing bells Calling no one in a hurry only saying all is well Petals falling through the silence final warmth before the cold I am standing on the backside with my hands no longer full [Break / Spoken (optional)] The love remains The work remains But I am learning how to rest [Final Chorus (soft, then swell)] Beloved you were never meant to stay Beloved you showed me the way Now the flame is turning inward winter asking me to tend Beloved this is not goodbye this is the end [Outro] I set you down with reverence and let the dark come in