[Verse 1 — The Oral Tradition Warning]
Oh the old folks say, in softer tone,
Not all the rules are carved in stone,
Some kept you safe, some kept you kind,
Some just kept fear inside your mind.
But still we sing, to not forget,
The land you cross is never set,
And if you walk where dragon sleeps,
You measure every breath you keep.
[Chorus — Core Survival Principle]
Oh—walk so quiet, tread so light,
Don’t let your footsteps bite the night,
For even sound can wake the deep,
And wake the thing that never sleeps.
[Verse 2 — Verified Terrain Rule (Bedrock Concept)]
They used to say, with serious face,
“Stay on the bedrock, know your place,”
For earth above may shift and lie,
But stone remembers who walks by.
And still that rule is mostly true,
Though scholars argue what is due,
Some say it’s fate, some say it’s fear,
But nobody walks careless near.
[Chorus — Core Survival Principle]
Oh—walk so quiet, tread so light,
Don’t let your footsteps bite the night,
For even sound can wake the deep,
And wake the thing that never sleeps.
[Verse 3 — Drift Into Superstition Layer]
And then the rules get strange and small,
The kind that no one trusts at all—
Like “don’t look back if you hear your name,”
Or “count your breaths to hide your shame.”
Or worse still whispered, half in jest:
“If you sneeze once, you must know best—
Don’t take three steps left after that,
Or something listens where you’re at.”
[Chorus — Reinforcement / Cultural Memory]
Oh—walk so quiet, tread so light,
Don’t let your footsteps bite the night,
Some rules are truth, some rules decay,
But none of them should be ignored today.
[Final Verse — Reflective / Scholarly Tone]
Now children laugh at half the list,
And travelers say it’s superstition missed,
But old men pause before they speak,
When ground beneath them starts to creak.
Because whether truth or story spun,
Or things that time has come undone,
The land remembers more than we—
And silence is the safest key.
[Final Chorus — Mythic Restatement]
Oh—walk so quiet, tread so light,
Let even breath dissolve in night,
For bedrock holds, and legends creep,
And something down there does not sleep.
[Outro — The Quiet Fade of the Old Song]
So sing it low, and leave it there,
Half prayer, half warning in the air.
For those who learn what’s true or guessed
Still walk the land with bated breath.
And when the fire turns to ash and coal,
And night takes over body and soul,
You’ll hear it fade—but not depart—
A rhythm under earth and heart.
No final truth, no clean divide,
Just footsteps lost in shifting tide…
And somewhere deep where none can see,
The stone still keeps its memory.
ElCeviche
