Lanterns in Black Water

[[NS | SIG free->4/4->free | BPM free->56->62->free | ARC jo-ha-kyu | PALETTE sho pad, koto/shamisen, shakuhachi, taiko, pulse synths, deep reverb, airy female vox]]

[[00:00 JO IN | free, lanes<=2, sho pad drone+bell, no grid, dry]]
Black water, patient mirror,
I lower both my hands like oars.
Moon ash on my knuckles,
a quiet bell inside my throat.
The night folds like paper—
I breathe, and a temple blooms.

[[00:30 HA | 56 BPM, lanes<=3, pad+soft sub+breathy lead]]
You walk the edge of gravity,
feet small fires over stone.
We count the wells between the stars,
their ropes of light, their lowering songs.
Every name we ever dropped
comes back as rings on dark water.

[[01:47 REFRAIN 1 | 56 BPM, lanes<=4, pad opens, low choir/shimmer send, lead brighter]]
Float me past the gates, lantern-by-lantern,
where the sky keeps all its vows.
Hold me in the tide, hour-by-hour—
let the quiet take me now.

[[02:21 INTERLUDE | free/loose, lanes<=2, shadow pad+bell/bowed tone, pulse off, vox-chop breaths]]
Breath into bell—
river into sky—
light into bone—
I open, I open.

[[02:45 KYU | 62 BPM, lanes<=4, tom/taiko ostinato 3+3+2, pad brightens, lead in octaves]]
Thunder in a silk glove,
your touch becomes a road.
We are bridges lit from underneath,
we are boats that never moor.

[[03:16 REFRAIN 2 | 56 BPM, lanes<=4, softer reprise, heartbeat /2]]
Float me past the gates, lantern-by-lantern,
where the sky keeps all its vows.
Teach my blood the slow, returning water—
let the quiet take me now.

[[03:42 CODA | free, lanes<=2, bright pad cluster + final bell tail]]
If I vanish, it will be into brightness;
if I return, it will be as light.

[[END 04:00]]

Ambient dark ethereal w/ gagaku thru-line; sho pad, koto/shamisen, shakuhachi, taiko; airy female vox, deep reverb