[Verse 1] They brought us where the ground had cracked, Where empty wells rang clear. He placed my palm against the dust And told them I could hear. I closed my eyes. I bent my knees. I named the depth below. The village watched my trembling hands And waited for the flow. He had the surveys in his coat, The numbers in his head. I only gave the silence shape And spoke the lines he fed. [Pre-Chorus] Behind me, Tavi never spoke. He watched the contracts close. While every family thanked the man Who chose which child would go. [Chorus] Under the heron’s wing, Where the narrow waters turn, Hold your breath beneath the bridge. Let the false lanterns burn. Keep your hand inside my hand. Do not answer when they sing. There is another current Under the heron’s wing. [Verse 2] At night the wagons left the camp Before the cooking fires. Ors said the children travelled north To join the water choirs. But Tavi found a labour seal Pressed deep in packing twine, And drew a road across his cloth That matched no map of mine. He marked the gates, The guarded bends, The houses bought with grain. He painted little herons Where the safe canals remained. [Pre-Chorus] I asked him who had taught him. He placed one finger to the rain. Then pointed toward the wagons And drew the road again. [Chorus] Under the heron’s wing, Where the narrow waters turn, Hold your breath beneath the bridge. Let the false lanterns burn. Keep your hand inside my hand. Do not answer when they sing. There is another current Under the heron’s wing. [Verse 3] We cut the rope before first light And took the service boat. No moon remained above the reeds. No star was left afloat. Behind us, Ors rang copper bells And called me through the mist. He promised I was chosen. He promised I was missed. But every white bird Tavi drew Appeared beneath a beam, Guiding us through drowned-out roads And channels coloured green. [Pre-Chorus] One wing meant take the left-hand stream. Two wings meant hide below. A heron with its head held high Meant there was room to go. [Chorus] Under the heron’s wing, Where the narrow waters turn, Hold your breath beneath the bridge. Let the false lanterns burn. Keep your hand inside my hand. Do not answer when they sing. There is another current Under the heron’s wing. [Bridge] At Ma Selen’s houseboat, I confessed before the dawn: “I never heard the buried springs. The gift was never born. He showed me where the water lay. He taught me how to shake. Every miracle they witnessed Was a bargain and a fake.” She said, “Child, he did not cross This marsh to claim your hands. He came to take the cloth your brother Carries through these lands.” [Reveal] Tavi opened all his maps Across her wooden floor. Every settlement was numbered. Every hidden gate and shore. Every payment. Every captain. Every child removed at night. Every official who looked away Was written there in white. Then from beyond the reed line Came the sound of wooden oars. One boat became eleven. Then eleven became more. Children stepped beneath the lanterns, Each with charcoal on their skin. Every one had seen a heron. Every one had followed him. [Final Chorus] Under the heron’s wing, All the narrow waters turned. We left the lying lanterns For the empty dark to burn. Hand in hand, they crossed the deck. No child walked behind a king. The whole marsh became a pathway Under the heron’s wing. Under the heron’s wing, What was hidden came to light. The child they thought was voiceless Had been speaking every night. I never called the water. I never heard it sing. Tavi taught the river What to carry Under the heron’s wing. [Outro] The wells are full in some towns now. In others, dust remains. I no longer fall before the earth Or answer to their names. But beneath each bridge, a white bird Waits where the currents spring. And somewhere, one more boat moves Under the heron’s wing.
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