[Intro]
Quiet: a churchyard breath,
paper-thin sky, a pocket watch stopped.
Listen — wood learning weather.
[Verse 1]
There it stands — oak, splintered map,
three nails like commas, not full stops.
Salt on a seamstress's palm — ledgered grief.
Chalk dust on a schoolroom floor — names erased.
A child's shoe, one left, thumbed with mud.
The cross holds the hush; it keeps the ledger.
[Refrain — Spoken, repeat]
This — the Cross: weight in the jaw, answer in the breath.
A ledger of small things — salt, chalk, a worn shoe.
Breathe silent here; count the hush between the beats.
[Verse 2]
Hands that sewed sunsets into shirts,
hands that mouthed mercy into bread.
Coffee stain on a soldier's letter, folded into a prayer.
A moth-eaten hymnbook, corners like tired fists.
It is not a banner; it's a ledger — ledger of names.
Wood remembers every small and clumsy prayer.
[Refrain — Spoken, repeat]
This — the Cross: weight in the jaw, answer in the breath.
A ledger of small things — salt, chalk, a worn shoe.
Breathe silent here; count the hush between the beats.
[Bridge — Spoken break]
One line, one breath — the guitar answers, then falls.
[Verse 3]
In the market at dawn, a woman sells sour plums,
she pads her palm with coins, counts them under her tongue.
Nails hush like rain on tin roofs where children sleep.
A child's laugh in the alley — a bell in bullion light.
The cross is not a single story; it's the inventory:
stitches, scabs, supper, the small mercy of someone staying.
[Refrain — Spoken, repeat]
This — the Cross: weight in the jaw, answer in the breath.
A ledger of small things — salt, chalk, a worn shoe.
Breathe silent here; count the hush between the beats.
[Outro]
Let the guitar tilt; let it finger the empty hinge.
We fold our palms around the ordinary — salt, paper, rain.
The cross is where we set down what we're tired of carrying.
Leave it there — step light — and walk with the soft sound of leaving.
[Performance & Instrumentation]
voice: spoken word (no singing) — accompaniment: solo acoustic guitar only.
Guitar: fingerpicked arpeggio throughout; capo on 2nd fret for warmth.
Tempo: 66 BPM (suggested range 60–72 BPM).
Dynamics: very soft, intimate; voice close to mic; allow breaths to sit.
Guitar mutes on line breaks; use light percussive thumb-slap on the downbeat of the Bridge.
Bridge: single spoken line, then one full resonant guitar hit, then softened arpeggio continues.
Deliver the Refrain as a rhythmic anchor after each verse; use uneven line lengths, caesuras, and internal rhythms so it reads as recitation rather than melody.
[Alternate Opening — optional]
A nail falls into a tin cup — sound of someone's prayer,
morning in a churchless street; two pigeons, a coin, a cold hand.
[Polished Spoken Refrain (model)]
This — the Cross: a ledger you can feel in your teeth,
little things stacked like prayers; breathe — and count them.
