put this on and come back to life

Verse

found you curled at the foot of the oak

fur gone white with the frost

breath so slow I had to lean in close

to be sure you weren't quite lost

Chorus

so I set the coal down low

let it glow between us, let it glow

no rush, little ghost, no rush

just thaw, just thaw, just thaw

Verse

didn't shake you, didn't call a name

didn't drag you from the cold

just sat in the dark with a hand-sized flame

and let the ice lose its hold

Chorus

so I set the coal down low

let it glow between us, let it glow

no rush, little ghost, no rush

just thaw, just thaw, just thaw

Verse

then an ear came loose from the rime

and a paw remembered the ground

some things won't be hurried — you give them time

and the warm comes back around

Chorus

so I set the coal down low

let it glow between us, let it glow

no rush, little ghost, no rush

just thaw, just thaw, just thaw

Outro

and somewhere in the dark

a tail moved, once

Verse

deeper in, the wood is full of statues

caught mid-step in the snow

a stag with his head thrown back

a wren that never let go

Litany

here's a fox that ran from a fire

here's a doe with her fawn in the frost

here's a thousand frozen mornings

here's everything the winter lost

Anchor

I don't wake them, I don't wake them

I just walk on through

Verse

some of them are wearing faces

I'm almost sure I know

but you can't thaw the whole world at once

so you leave them in the snow

Anchor

I don't wake them, I don't wake them

I just walk on through

Litany

here's the one I was when it happened

here's the one who couldn't speak

here's the one who lay down in the cold

and slept near half a week

Anchor

I don't wake them, I don't wake them

I just walk on through

Outro

and the snow comes down behind me

filling up my tracks

Verse

took me a while to understand

this winter isn't weather

something in these woods decided

to stop the spring forever

Verse

lost something one bad autumn

and couldn't bear the bloom

so it pulled the cold in tight as a coat

and made the whole world a tomb

Chorus

but the ice is thin where the heart is

the ice is thin where it broke

and I felt the whole forest shudder

like a sleeper about to wake

Verse

you don't have to name the sorrow

you don't have to dig for the wound

just let one warm thing in

and watch the cold come unspooled

Chorus

'cause the ice is thin where the heart is

the ice is thin where it broke

and I felt the whole forest shudder

like a sleeper about to wake

Outro

and somewhere deep, a sound

like a held breath letting go

Verse

found a hollow out of the wind

banked the snow up high

laid you in against my coat

and let the long night by

Chorus

hush now, hush now

nothing has to happen yet

hush now, hush now

just the snow, just the snow, just the dark and the warmth and the breath

Verse

no spring tonight, no sun tonight

no needing to be well

just two small fires in a frozen world

and the soft of the snowfall

Chorus

hush now, hush now

nothing has to happen yet

hush now, hush now

just the snow, just the snow, just the dark and the warmth and the breath

Verse

you don't have to wake for me

you don't have to climb

just stay here in the hollow

and let me hold the time

Chorus

hush now, hush now

nothing has to happen yet

hush now, hush now

just the snow, just the snow, just the dark and the warmth and the breath

Outro

and your breathing finds my breathing

and the long night gets us through

Verse

woke to the sound of water

where there'd only been white

a thin gold line on the treeline

the first warm crack of light

Verse

then a green thing, bold and stupid

pushed up through the snow at the root

didn't ask the world's permission

just decided to shoot

Chorus

green comes back, green comes back

slow as honey, slow as dawn

green comes back, green comes back

and you crack one eye on a world gone warm

Verse

color leaking down the valley

like ink into a cup

the fox lifts an eyelid, just an inch

the whole forest looking up

Chorus

green comes back, green comes back

slow as honey, slow as dawn

green comes back, green comes back

and you crack one eye on a world gone warm

Outro

and a bird I've never heard

tries out its one new song

Verse

laid my hand down soft, half afraid to know

on the quiet place where the cold winds go

held my own breath in, didn't make a sound

scared of what I'd find, scared of what I'd found

Pre-Chorus

then low, far under, faint and true

something small and warm came moving through

Chorus

still here, still here

after everything, you're still here

still going, soft and slow

the quietest thing I know

oh, I thought you were gone

but you're still holding on

still here

Verse

counted out the seconds in the dark and snow

sure the light had left a long time ago

but the cedar swayed and the night stayed still

and a little drum kept beating like it always will

Pre-Chorus

no, it never stopped, it just got low

the faithful little ache I didn't know

Chorus

still here, still here

after everything, you're still here

still going, soft and slow

the quietest thing I know

oh, I thought you were gone

but you're still holding on

still here

Bridge

all this time, all this time

through the longest dark I couldn't name

all this time, all this time

you were still beating under my palm

and I never even knew

that the warm part made it through

Chorus

still here, still here

after everything, we're still here

still going, soft and slow

the quietest thing I know

oh, I thought we were gone

but we're still holding on

still here

Outro

still here

still holding on

still here

Verse

shook the last of the cold off my back

felt the whole world leaning, waiting for the crack

one shaking leg out of the drift below

nobody coming, so I told myself to go

Pre-Chorus

and the snow gave a creak and the snow let go

and I rose up slow, and I rose up slow

Chorus

I stood up — (I stood up)

on my own — (on my own)

no one pulled me, no one carried me home

I stood up — (I stood up)

all alone — (all alone)

it came from inside, and it carried me home

Verse

back legs folding, but I tried them twice

set my jaw against the wind and ice

swaying like a candle, like a thing brand new

but I did not lie down, no I made it through

Pre-Chorus

and the snow gave a creak and the snow let go

and I rose up slow, and I rose up slow

Chorus

I stood up — (I stood up)

on my own — (on my own)

no one pulled me, no one carried me home

I stood up — (I stood up)

all alone — (all alone)

it came from inside, and it carried me home

Bridge

not the thaw, not the sun, not the one with the flame

nobody owed me, nobody came

just a voice in my chest saying get up, get up

so I got up, I got up, I got up

Chorus

I stood up — (I stood up)

on my own — (on my own)

no one pulled me, no one carried me home

I stood up — (I stood up)

all alone — (all alone)

it came from inside, and it carried me home

Outro

and I'm standing now

yeah I'm standing now

on my own

Verse

it broke all at once, the river let go

the green came up where there used to be snow

and the birds in the oaks just lost their minds

all the noise of the world coming back to life

Pre-Chorus

and I can't keep up and I don't even try

I just throw my arms out under the open sky

Chorus

so let it roar, let it roar

I never felt this alive before

let it shake the whole green floor

oh, I don't just survive anymore

let it roar, let it roar

this is what I came back for

Verse

white streak gone through the cedar trees

nine tails flying like a fire on the breeze

and I'm soaked to the knee and I'm laughing out loud

I'm a part of the noise, I'm a part of the crowd

Pre-Chorus

and I can't keep up and I don't even try

I just throw my arms out under the open sky

Chorus

so let it roar, let it roar

I never felt this alive before

let it shake the whole green floor

oh, I don't just survive anymore

let it roar, let it roar

this is what I came back for

Bridge

I know what it was to go weeks without sound

face pressed to the cold floor, snow piling around

but here — the river's out, the oaks are screaming loud

I'm so loud, I'm so loud, I'm so loud

Chorus

so let it roar, let it roar

I never felt this alive before

let it shake the whole green floor

oh, I don't just survive anymore

let it roar, let it roar

this is what I came back for

Outro

let it roar

oh, let it roar

this is what I came back for

Verse

first wild day winds down to evening

the forest catching its breath

and the coal I carried all this way

burned down to its last red thread

Verse

did its job, that little fire

woke a whole world from the cold

now the woods keep their own warmth

I can let the ember go

Chorus

burn low, burn low

you don't have to hold the light alone

burn low, burn low

the warm stays on when the fire's done

Verse

been a coal and been an ashes

been the spark and been the smoke

some warmth outlives the burning —

that's a thing the old fires know

Chorus

burn low, burn low

you don't have to hold the light alone

burn low, burn low

the warm stays on when the fire's done

Outro

and the last red eye of the coal

blinks out — and I'm still warm

Verse

something old was holding on

all this time, holding tight

tonight it finally loosens

and it lifts into the night

no goodbye, no falling

just a slow and rising glow

quiet as the breath I'm breathing

and I think I'm ready to let it go

Chorus

so let it go, let it drift

like a light up through the trees

let it go, let it drift

it was never meant for me to keep

and I'm okay, I'm okay

watching all of it rise

let it go, let it drift away tonight

Verse

all the versions of me that ached

all the winters I carried alone

they're floating up like lanterns now

and they're finding their way home

I don't reach, I don't chase them

I just lean my head back slow

and the dark gets warm and crowded

with the weight I'm letting go

Chorus

so let it go, let it drift

like a light up through the trees

let it go, let it drift

it was never meant for me to keep

and I'm okay, I'm okay

watching all of it rise

let it go, let it drift away tonight

Verse

one by one they leave the ground

and the cold that kept them lets them fly

nothing hurts the way I feared it

it just glows and says goodbye

and I'm lighter than I've ever been

underneath this clearing sky

Chorus

so let it go, let it drift

like a light up through the trees

let it go, let it drift

it was never meant for me to keep

and I'm okay, I'm okay

watching all of it rise

let it go, let it drift away tonight

Outro

the sky was full, and now it's clear

and somehow that's alright

let it go, let it drift

let it drift away tonight

Verse

the fox takes a step, then another

testing the new spring ground

shaky at first, then steadier

then it doesn't fall back down

Verse

and the woods come back together

but the map's a little new

a creek where there wasn't a creek before

a different kind of blue

Chorus

find your feet, find your feet

the ground's gonna hold, the ground's gonna keep

find your feet, find your feet

you don't come back the same — and that's alright with me

Verse

not the forest that went under

something rougher, something true

the winter didn't kill it

it just made it into something new

Chorus

find your feet, find your feet

the ground's gonna hold, the ground's gonna keep

find your feet, find your feet

you don't come back the same — and that's alright with me

Outro

and the new creek finds the old sea

the long way — but it finds it

Verse

there's one bud left unopened

froze tight the autumn it went wrong

I've kept it by the coal this whole long walk

holding on, holding on

Build

and now the whole wood turns to face it

every branch, every thawed-out thing

leaning toward that one red knot

like it's holding its breath for spring

Tighten

it's coming, it's coming

I can feel the green strain at the seam

Build

the bud trembles on the bough

the light goes thick and gold and slow

everything that froze that autumn

about to let go

Tighten

it's coming, it's coming

I can feel the green strain at the seam

Tighten

any second now

any second now

any—

Verse

I carried it through the longest winter

a small held breath against my chest

I almost set it down a hundred times

I almost let the cold win the rest

but I kept it warm, I kept it hidden

all the way down through the dark

and I prayed that something still alive

was curled up in the marrow of my dark

Pre-Chorus

and the rain comes down

and the green splits wide

and the thing I feared would end me

opens up inside

Chorus

oh, it's blooming, blooming, bloodred and alive

everything I buried, look at how it survived

oh, it's blooming, blooming, redder for the wait

the wound became the flower, and the flower's wide awake

Verse

all the years I thought were wasted

all the cold I thought I'd drown

came back up as something burning

the brightest thing for miles around

no more hiding, no more holding

no more afraid of what's inside

it was never going to kill me

it was waiting to come alive

Chorus

oh, it's blooming, blooming, bloodred and alive

everything I buried, look at how it survived

oh, it's blooming, blooming, redder for the wait

the wound became the flower, and the flower's wide awake

Bridge

whatever you buried that autumn

whatever you swore you'd lost

look — it didn't die down there

it just waited out the frost

Chorus

oh, it's blooming, blooming, bloodred and alive

everything I buried, look at how it survived

oh, it's blooming, blooming, redder for the wait

the wound became the flower, and the flower's wide awake

Outro

one red flower in the rain

turning its face up to the light

everything I thought I lost

came back to life tonight

Verse

now the evening comes in easy

gold along the floor

the fox asleep in a patch of sun

like the winter never was before

Verse

and the old trees don't seem worried

they've watched a thousand springs

the freeze, the thaw, the bloom, the fall

they know how it all swings

Chorus

old and easy, old and calm

the woods have done this all along

old and easy, old and calm

nothing left to prove to anyone

Verse

it's not the forest that it was

and it's not sorry, not at all

just here, green and breathing

warm against the coming fall

Chorus

old and easy, old and calm

the woods have done this all along

old and easy, old and calm

nothing left to prove to anyone

Outro

the fox turns over in the sun

and I let the evening come

Verse

morning's coming up gold

all across the moss

I take one seed from the flower

press it warm against my coat

right beside the spark I crossed the cold for

the fox just watches from the trees

doesn't follow, doesn't have to

the light's enough, and the path's for me

Chorus

so I'm walking, keep on walking

into all that's up ahead

carrying the fire that found me

carrying the green instead of dread

and I don't know what's out there waiting

but I know the way through now

so I'm walking, keep on walking

into morning, onward, out

Verse

top of the ridge and I stop cold

'cause there it is again —

miles away, a stand of white

a whole world holding in its breath

and I feel the old fear flicker

but it doesn't take me down

'cause I've been frozen, and I made it

and I know the way to thaw it out

Chorus

so I'm walking, keep on walking

into all that's up ahead

carrying the fire that found me

carrying the green instead of dread

and I don't know what's out there waiting

but I know the way through now

so I'm walking, keep on walking

into morning, onward, out

Bridge

thin grey smoke on the far slope

someone's fire gone low

I've been exactly where you are

shaking in that ice and snow

hold on — I'm already coming

I remember the long way home

you won't have to do it on your own

Final Chorus

so I'm walking, keep on walking

into all that's up ahead

carrying the fire that found me

carrying the green instead of dread

and I don't know what's out there waiting

but I know the way through now

so I'm walking, keep on walking

into morning, onward, out

Outro

one warm coal still in my hand

one white wood up ahead

the cold won't keep it, I already know

'cause I'm walking, keep on walking

and the whole thing starts again