[Verse 1 - violin + first harp notes, tentative, morning quiet] I step outside where I’ve been hiding The east is quiet, early, still There’s a road that runs along the valley And it goes further than I will
But I can see them from the doorway Scattered figures, scattered needs The kind of tired that lives in people Long before they start to bleed
[Pre-Chorus - the pull] I could turn back inside I could say it isn’t mine But something in me doesn’t let me Just walk past and leave it behind
[Chorus - soft but decided] So I walk toward them Not because I’m healed Not because I have the answer Or know the way to feel I walk toward them Because the east is rising And something pulls me forward Even if I don’t know what that is
[Verse 2 - small acts, no fanfare] There’s a woman at the roadside With a child she can’t console I sit with her, I don’t explain myself I just help and then I go
There’s a man who’s lost whatever faith he carried I don’t preach and I don’t promise anything I just stay until the trembling fades And leave before he asks my name
[Pre-Chorus 2] I don’t say who I am I don’t explain what I was Whatever I declared before Stays behind me in the ash
[Chorus] So I walk toward them Not because I’m healed Not because I have the answer Or know the way to feel I walk toward them Because the east is rising And something pulls me forward Even if I don’t know what that is
[Bridge - celestial choir enters, soft, barely there at first] I’ve declared myself The Wicked I’ve declared myself The Corrupt But maybe — just maybe — That was never all I was
And maybe all the darkness That they planted in my chest Gave me eyes for where it lives in others And hands for what comes next
[Final Chorus - angelic hyms] I walk toward them Still learning how to heal The east is rising And for the first time — it’s real I walk toward them I don’t have a name for this yet But it’s pulling me forward And I’m not looking back
[Outro - choir hum, alone but not lonely] East rising East rising This is where it starts