[Intro — sparse, high strings, wind]
[Verse 1 — Elara at the east peak, very quiet] I stopped at the ridge Halfway to the castle in the east And the sky to the west Was the most beautiful thing I have ever not wanted to see
Purple at the edges Gentle as a lullaby (gentle as a lullaby) The kind of color that has no right To be that soft While the world beneath it Learns to fall
[Pre-Chorus — the recognition landing] I thought I would feel fury Standing here and watching it begin But I felt something closer To understanding And that is harder Than anything I’ve carried
[Chorus — low, hymn-like, devastated not angry] Let there be dark If this is what the dark looks like from the outside Let there be dark I see it now the way she sees it from inside She didn’t need to conquer She just needed to arrive (I just needed to arrive) And I’m standing at the mirror of that moment Watching from the east side of her sky
Let there be dark Because I finally understand the light she found in it Let there be dark
[Verse 2 — the symmetry] She was at the highest point in the west I am at the highest point in the east And neither of us knows The other is up here
Same sky Same purple breathing through the clouds Same world going quiet underneath Two sisters at opposite ends Of something neither one of us Was ever told we shared
(The mist of ruination / wrapped in purple smoke and sky)
I used to think I knew what darkness was I fought it long enough I thought that was the same as knowing it
But darkness from the inside Looks like finally owning something After everything was taken
[Pre-Chorus 2] They took it all from her The monastery, the light, the name And ruin was the first thing That was only hers Not the church’s Not theirs
Mine
[Chorus] Let there be dark If this is what the dark looks like from the outside Let there be dark I see it now the way she sees it from inside She didn’t need to conquer She just needed to arrive (I just needed to arrive) And I’m standing at the mirror of that moment Watching from the east side of her sky
[Bridge — barely spoken, the grief of understanding] I don’t forgive it I want to be clear I don’t forgive what the mist is doing To everyone below
But I understand For the first time Why it feels like peace to her
We were broken into opposite shapes By the same hands She found peace in the ruin of others I found purpose in the ruin of myself
We were always mirrors Standing at opposite ends of a sky That was never really ours to begin with
(everything inside it’s mine)
I wish I had known her Before any of this was ours
[Final Chorus — the grief fully open] Let there be dark Because the girl who made it never had a choice Let there be dark I’m standing in the echo of her voice She didn’t need to conquer She just needed to arrive And somewhere in that purple Is the sister I was never given
Let there be dark Let there be dark
[Outro — wind, silence, the purple fading to the west] I see you I wish you could see me Not like this Just — see me