Rivers That Won’t Return

[Verse 1]
We carved our names
In the bark above the floodline
Swore this shore
Would remember what we hid
You said
"Meet me
Where the water cuts the hillside"
I said forever
But forever slipped the grip
[Chorus]
Rivers that won’t return
Carry our faces
Blurred and burning
Love that the stars have turned
Against the tide we kept on yearning
We were promised to the storm
Torn from each other’s arms
Rivers that won’t return
Still drag my heart where you are
[Verse 2]
You wore white
For a stranger at the altar
I watched smoke
From a distance
Barely breathed
Every vow
Drove the current that much stronger
Pulled us under
While we smiled through broken teeth
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
I still stand
On the stone where you once kissed me
Hands like anchors
Reaching for a ghost
If I fought fate
It would only drown us deeper
But I’d sink gladly
Just to touch you once more
Once more [crescendo]
[Chorus]

metal, Melodic metal ballad with male vocals, starting with clean arpeggiated guitars and distant toms, then erupting into a wide, distorted half-time chorus. Verses stay intimate with low vocal register and subtle string pads; chorus lifts with double-tracked leads, soaring harmonies, and driving drums. Bridge brings a tempo push with syncopated riffing and a high-register vocal peak before dropping back to a final, crushing chorus.