[Intro]
[Verse 1]
Before your words for death, this ground had names
Before your fear of rot, the cycle came
I set my small ones loose into the air
They live a breath and then return to care
The dark-leaved trees lean in to hear me breathe
The sedge grows deep with what the living leave
Nothing wasted — the swamp will tell you so
Every death is currency, every grief can grow
[Pre-Chorus]
You came here for the secret
You came to learn the trade
Life and death are not two forces —
They are one blade
[Chorus]
Give and take — the swamp has always known
Every life that blooms returns to feed the stone
Pay ten lives to wake the land below
Ten lives and all the roots begin to grow
My children fall and what they leave behind
Becomes the dark that feeds a brighter kind
What the rot reclaims was never truly yours —
The cycle was the only thing worth tending in these halls
[Verse 2]
They bring their grief and set it at my feet
And ask me: is there something past defeat?
I say: the pain is real and it is right
But how you hold the dead shows how you hold the light
I gave my warmth to wake the roots for years
I bled into the swamp and drank it clear
The vein and root are partners in this ground
You cannot grow if you refuse the wound
[Pre-Chorus]
You came here for the answer
And the answer is the cost
Life and death are not a balance —
Nothing's ever lost
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
A woman came to me with grief she couldn't name
She'd lost the one who made the world worth building
I said: the pain can be unbearable, it's true
But how we hold the dead is how we hold the living
She left and I returned to tend the bog
The dark-leaved trees leaned in and the earth breathed slow
Nothing asked of me but what I freely gave
And what I gave came back a hundredfold
[Final Chorus]
Give and take — the swamp has always known
Every life that blooms returns to feed the stone
Pay ten lives to wake the land below
Ten lives and all the roots begin to grow
My children fall and leave me what remains
The root grows rich on everything that drains
What the rot reclaims was never truly lost —
The college and its dark were worth the cost
[Outro]
Bloom
And rot
Give
And take
Come home
