[Verse 1]
I look down from the garden
At the faces I have always known in war
And I do not recognize them
Because I have never seen them before
Not like this
Not with hands that aren’t gripping something
Not with eyes that aren’t scanning every door
This is what they look like
When the thing they gave their lives to
Isn’t something they have to hold anymore
[Pre-Chorus]
And I think — this is rest
I have never seen it on them
This is what their faces were beneath the watch
This is what three hundred thousand years of keeping
Looks like
When it finally stops
[Chorus]
End of watch
The door was held
The light came through
The thing they waited for arrived
End of watch
The convergence happened
The twins came home
The Lighted stayed alive
They did not ask for a reward
They did not ask for recognition
They asked for the morning
And the morning came
End of watch
And now the story
Needs new voices
And they know every word to say
[Verse 2]
I see Rigel with his scar
He is not scouting any perimeter
He is sitting by a fire that doesn’t mean danger
He is just warm
I see the ones who carried the ring forward
I see the ones who blessed what couldn’t wait
I see the ones who whispered Elara’s name in darkness
Just to make sure
Something good would find her at the gate
[Pre-Chorus 2]
And I think — this is what it was for
Not the power
Not the order
Not the seat I have at the council table
This
These faces
This is what three hundred thousand years
Were trying to make possible
[Chorus]
End of watch
The door was held
The light came through
The thing they waited for arrived
End of watch
The convergence happened
The twins came home
The Lighted stayed alive
They did not ask for a reward
They did not ask for recognition
They asked for the morning
And the morning came
End of watch
And now the story
Needs new voices
And they know every word to say
[Bridge — SOLARA speaks to the Lighted]
You held the door when no one else was holding
You named the light before you knew its name
You bled for daughters you had never met yet
And you never asked me
To explain
So I will not explain
I will just say:
I know what it cost
I carry the ones who didn’t reach this morning
I carry every name
And I am asking you now — not as The One
Not as the one who arrived
Not as anything above you —
I am asking you
As the daughter of what you protected:
Tell our story.
Tell it true.
Tell it to everyone who is trying to hold a door somewhere
And doesn’t know yet if it matters.
Tell them it mattered.
[Final Chorus]
End of watch
The door was held
The light came through
The thing they waited for arrived
End of watch
Now rest a moment
Because the story
Needs your voice to survive
They did not ask for a reward
They did not ask for recognition
They asked for the morning —
And I am the morning
End of watch.
You’re home.
[Outro — the Lighted, beginning to speak]
And one by one
They start to tell it
The girl who walked through darkness carrying a ring
The raven that arrived before the answer
The almost that became the touch
The two hands
And the light
They tell it around fires
They tell it to their children
They tell it to the ones who think
That holding on is pointless
And the story —
Our story —
Does not end.
It begins here.
In their mouths.
In the telling.