The Hollow Gift

The Hollow Gift

[Verse 1] They rolled us through the sleeping gate Beneath a moon of bone A hollow thing of timber With a kingdom in its throat

No trumpet marked our coming No banner touched the air Only wheels on ancient stone And the smell of cedar prayer

[Pre-Chorus] Hold your breath Hold your blade Let the dark remember none There are fires not yet burning There are wars not yet won

[Chorus] In the hollow gift We waited without names In the wooden dark With our hands around the flame While the city dreamed above us And the gods looked down unseen We carried night inside the walls Where morning should have been

[Verse 2] I heard a child in distant rooms I heard the wine cups fall I heard the soft unguarded life Of a city past the wall

A man can call it strategy A king can call it fate But every breath inside that horse Was ash before the gate

[Pre-Chorus] Hold your tongue Hold your fear Let the silence do its part There are doors that open outward There are knives that open hearts

[Chorus] In the hollow gift We waited without names In the wooden dark With our hands around the flame While the city dreamed above us And the gods looked down unseen We carried night inside the walls Where morning should have been

[Bridge] No one sang of glory there No one spoke of home Only knees against the timber Only bronze against the bone

And if the gods were listening They listened like the dead As the latch gave way below us And the dark began to spread

[Instrumental Break]

[Final Chorus] From the hollow gift We stepped into the flame From the wooden dark Each man returned by name And the city woke around us Not to morning, but to screams We carried night inside the walls And burned the shape of dreams

[Outro] Before the sea Before the storm Before the long road home There was only wood And waiting And the fire still unborn