The Names I Keep

Lyrics

[Intro]
In firelight, I mouth the names I keep
(oh) the names I keep

[Verse 1]
I come back carrying thunder on my back
Leather strap bites bone where your weight went slack
Ash in my hair, smoke in my teeth
I press each syllable against the heat
I carve you into oak with a rusted nail
So the grain remembers when the faces fail
Your breath still fogs the inside of my ribs
I feed the hearth the names I cannot give

[Pre-Chorus]
I etch you in the dark, struck flint against my tongue
If embers are a language, I will speak until I'm done
My lungs become a bellows, the night begins to rise
I lift you up in firelight and oath you to the skies

[Chorus]
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
I throw your names like sparks, they climb the night
I keep you burning in my chest until the ash turns bright
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
You live in the names I keep
The names I keep, the names I keep

[Drop]

[Verse 2]
Cold field, iron rain, I learned the shape of grief
Stitched it to my shoulders with a strip of leaf
Blood dried black; the moon read runes on me
I walked them home in silence no one sees
I taste the copper ghosts that haunt my mouth
I drag the weight uphill and never set it down
Every crack in me is room for one more light
I stitch a thousand sparks into the black of night

[Pre-Chorus 2]
My breath becomes a hammer, beating time against the cold
I raise a wall of voices where the names cannot be sold
If memory's a weapon, let it cut through every lie
I brand the dark with fire where your shadows learn to fly

[Chorus 2]
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
I throw your names like sparks, they climb the night
I keep you burning in my chest until the ash turns bright
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
You live in the names I keep
The names I keep, the names I keep

[Violin Solo]

[Breakdown]
I lean into the coals and say you soft and low
The hunter with the laughing eyes, the girl who would not go
The brother made of thunder, the mother made of rain
I lay you on my tongue again and pull you through the flame

[Chant Break]
The names I keep, I breathe, I breathe
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
The names I keep, I breathe, I breathe
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
The names I keep, the names I keep
As long as I sing, you don't get to die

[Final Drop]
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
The names I keep, the names I keep
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
The names I keep, alive in heat
As long as I sing, you don't get to die
The names I keep, the names I keep

[Outro]
In fading light, I mouth the names I keep
The names I keep