Lyrics Manuscript / Pending
The Beggar King
[Verse 1] I came in rags at evening With the dust upon my skin The doors I crossed as master Would not let the master in The stones remembered footfall The old dog knew my breath But men who wore my table Had made a feast of death
[Pre-Chorus] Do not speak the name too early Do not wake the sleeping blade There are years inside the silence There are debts that must be paid
[Chorus] I am the beggar king At the threshold of my own I am the nameless man Returned through salt and stone I have crossed the wine-dark water I have worn the storm and flame Now I stand before the doorway Waiting for my name
[Verse 2] They drank beneath my rafters They laughed where shadows grew They touched the cups and silver Of a life they never knew But she moved through them like winter With a lamp behind her eyes Still weaving in the darkness Still guarding the disguise
[Pre-Chorus] I have lied to gods and monsters I have hidden in the foam But no disguise is heavier Than returning to your home
[Chorus] I am the beggar king At the threshold of my own I am the nameless man Returned through salt and stone I have crossed the wine-dark water I have worn the storm and flame Now I stand before the doorway Waiting for my name
[Bridge] Bring the bow from the silence Bring the years from the wall Let the string remember The hands that held it all No crown upon my forehead No trumpet at the gate Only wood beneath my fingers Only breath before the weight
[Instrumental Passage]
[Verse 3] The hall grew still around me As the old curve bent and sang And every face before me Saw the ghost become a man Not glory in the rafters Not mercy on the floor Only justice moving quietly Like darkness toward the door
[Final Chorus] I am the nameless man Who came back through the flame I have crossed the wine-dark water I have buried what I was Now I stand before the woman Who remembers me because
[Outro]
The final chamber waits at the threshold of home, where recognition becomes judgment and the long exile ends.