[Intro – Clarinet motif over acoustic guitar and distant Hammond tone] *Hollow breeze, wooden breath, ember crackle in the dark* [Verse 1] We never meant to light the hills Just needed warmth against the chill But fire grew from every lie And danced too long behind our eyes [Verse 2 – Electric bass hum enters] I traced your name in soot and bark And left it there to keep you dark But even ash remembers flame And even silence speaks of shame [Chorus – Strings swell, drums build with shaker + toms] The smoke we leave behind It stains the air and blinds the kind We never meant to burn this wide But fire remembers how we lied [Verse 3 – Whispered vocal layers, woodwinds weave underneath] There’s footprints etched in charcoal ground And none of them are turning ‘round We never stopped to watch the trees Just ran until we lost our knees [Bridge – all rhythm fades, breath pulses and ambient substep swell] *What do we leave… when nothing holds… and nothing breathes… but smoke?* [Hammond Solo – Deep Purple–inspired] [Hammond Solo: swirling in Em, melodic blues turns, rhythmic call and answer with tom hits] [Background: light percussion + string tremolo + organ chords expanding in stereo] [Verse 4 – stripped down, just voice and Hammond] I watched the sky turn into glass Reflected all we couldn’t pass And as the stars began to drown The night exhaled and pulled me down [Final Chorus – Full instrumentation returns, dynamic peak] The smoke we leave behind It curls like thoughts we tried to bind It sings in halls we never built It floats on every word and guilt [Outro – Flute reprise + tremolo strings, final Hammond swell resolves to E minor] [Final vocal whisper:] *“We were fire… and only fire forgets.”*
