Intro) (A slow, muffled acoustic progression begins. The cello breathes in, a low, sorrowful hum that vibrates right at the edge of hearing.) (Verse 1) The map on the table is frayed at the seam A faded out record of a fractured old dream I look at the bloodlines we couldn't sustain The miles to Missouri that pull at your veins The families that left us, the ties that just broke The lives that we built that went up in the smoke We laid down our offerings, we gave them our best But the things they demanded were laid to their rest. (Chorus) (The cello swells, thick and heavy.) So close your eyes tight, let the oceans go black We are crossing the line and we ain’t looking back Let the righteous have gold and their blinding white light I'll build us a kingdom deep in the night Where the stars never burn and the shadows run deep In the dark side of heaven, forever to keep. (Verse 2) You carry your phantoms, I carry my own We came to this tundra to bear them alone The empty old rooms and the silent goodbyes I watch the heavy reflection of grief in your eyes I stand in the silence when the winter wind cries And watch the black aurora bleed out in the skies We paid for this kingdom with everything dear And buried the sorrow right here in the clear. (Bridge) (The acoustic guitar slows almost to a halt. The vocal becomes incredibly close, quiet, and direct.) They tell you that blood is a tether that binds But what do you do when the tether unwinds? We gathered the fragments of lives that went dark And kept each other warm with a solitary spark We are the orphans of the choices we made Finding our peace in the permanent shade. (Verse 3) (The guitar picks up a slightly harder, more resolute strum. The mechanic returns to his work.) The architects demand that you stay in the light And bleed for the ones who have given up the fight But we took our losses and carried the weight Straight through the snow to the desolate gate Our previous lives are just scrap in the cold A tragic, deep history that had to be told The creations we lost are the ghosts at the door But I am the mechanic, and we’re building once more. (Chorus) So close your eyes tight, let the oceans go black We are crossing the line and we ain’t looking back Let the righteous have gold and their blinding white light I'll build us a kingdom deep in the night Where the stars never burn and the shadows run deep In the dark side of heaven, forever to keep. (Outro) (The cello holds one final, agonizingly long low note.) For the families that left. For the miles in between. We paid the heavy cost. The phantoms in the snow. Deep in the night. Forever to keep. (The acoustic guitar plays an unresolved, minor chord that slowly decays into the ambient silence of the sub-arctic winter.
