The Garden Keeps Our Footsteps

Lyrics

[Verse 1] You left a paper lantern by the frozen garden gate Its little painted windows held the hour we were late I found your silver mitten where the snow had tucked it in And heard the old house breathing as the winter settled in [Verse 2] I kept the key you gave me on a ribbon, blue and worn It turns inside the music box that sleeps beside the thorn A fox crossed through the orchard with a feather in its mouth Then vanished past the chapel where the candles faced the south [Pre-Chorus] If you can hear me through the falling white Come find the path we lost that night [Chorus] Meet me where the branches hold the frost like tiny glass Where the years grow soft and all the hurried footsteps pass We were young enough to think the snow could keep a vow If you still remember, I am waiting there somehow [Verse 3] You came in from the snowfall with the dawn upon your sleeve And carried all the quiet things I never could believe We spoke of roads we traveled, of the rooms we left behind Then watched the thawing river take our names and turn them kind [Bridge] [Wordless choir, humming] Ah—ah, ah—ah [Female] Some doors open only when we cease to ask them why [Male] Some goodbyes are lanterns that keep glowing as they fly [Final Chorus] Meet me where the branches hold the frost like tiny glass Where the years grow soft and all the hurried footsteps pass Though the morning takes the silver from the boughs somehow I will keep the little light you left me then—and now [Outro] [Wordless choir, humming] Ah—ah, ah—ah The garden keeps our footsteps underneath the snow