Echoes I Can’t Name

[Overture – instrumental]
(Low strings, piano motif, distant choir “ahhh…”)
[Verse 1 – intimate, controlled]
There’s a hallway cold and dim
I press my back against the brim
Of every shadow I have known
A room where love was never shown
Footsteps fading down the hall
Hands I held, then lost it all
I reach for warmth that wasn’t there
A quiet voice that disappeared
[Pre-Chorus 1 – building]
I try to follow where it leads
But it slips away like whispered pleas
Like I’m tracing someone else
Like I’m not myself
[Chorus 1 – soaring, emotional]
Blurred faces, broken frames
Calling out forgotten names
I was there but not the same
Just echoes I can’t name
Faded laughter, distant cries
Hidden truths behind my eyes
Every truth I can’t reclaim
Just echoes I can’t name
[Post-Chorus 1 – vocalized, airy]
Ahhh… (rising, fragile)
Ohhh… (falling, trembling)
Stay… (soft)
Don’t fade… (echo)
[Verse 2 – deeper, emotional]
I learned silence like a shield
Something safe, something concealed
I smiled when the room was cold
Held my tongue, did what I was told
Windows closed to keep me in
Yet wind could still reach under the skin
A contradiction I can’t explain
I loved the warmth, I feared the pain
[Pre-Chorus 2 – stronger build]
I search for something I can hold
But every piece feels far too cold
A story written out of place
A life I can’t retrace
[Chorus 2 – fuller, powerful]
Blurred faces, broken frames
Calling out forgotten names
I was there but not the same
Still echoes I can’t name
Faded laughter, distant cries
All the truth I’ve learned to hide
Every wound I couldn’t claim
Still echoes I can’t name
[Post-Chorus 2 – emotional, layered]
Don’t let me disappear… (ahhh…)
Don’t let me fade… (ohhh…)
Was I ever really here…? (rising)
Or just something you made… (echo)
[Bridge – stripped, intimate → rising]
Was I too quiet… or too loud…
Did I vanish in the crowd…
If I reach into the past
Will I find myself at last…?
Or just shadows…
Looking back…
At me…
[Build – orchestral rise, operatic]
Pieces of me scattered wide
Cracks in armor I can’t hide
Trying hard to make it clear
But the truth won’t reappear
[Final Chorus – full operatic climax]
Blurred faces, broken frames
Calling out forgotten names
I was there but not the same
Still echoes I can’t name
Faded laughter, distant cries
All the truth I’ve learned to hide
Every wound I couldn’t claim
Still echoes I can’t name
[Post-Chorus 3 – haunting, fading]
Ahhh… (choir echo)
Stay…
Don’t go…
I was there…
I know…
[Outro – fragile, lingering]
(piano + distant choir)
I was there…
Wasn’t I…?
(final soft “ahhh…” fades into silence)

Modern opera solo; haunting, emotional,cinematic,powerful vocals, reflective,dramatic,unresolved childhood pain, female