The River Doesn't Forgive

[Verse 1]
I keep you where the light turns blue, 
In a cradle of salt and a gown of dew. 
They called it a tragedy, a "slip of the hand," 
But they don’t understand how I hate the land. 
It's dry and it's hollow, it’s where things decay, 
So I took you down deep where the currents all play.

[Chorus] 
They say I’m a monster for keeping you still, 
For bending the river to my broken will. 
But you were a flicker, a spark in the dark, 
And I am the water, the bite, and the bark. 
If the earth wants your ashes, it’ll have to fight me, 
I’m the queen of the lost, and I don't set things free.

[Verse 2] 
You promised me "always," but "always" is long, 
A mortal's "forever" is just a short song. 
I watched your heart stutter, I felt the beat stop, 
Like a single, pathetic, evaporating drop. 
How dare you be fragile? How dare you be bone? 
How dare you leave me in this current alone?

[Bridge] 
I’ll flood the orchards, I’ll drown out the grain, 
I’ll wash every footprint of yours from the plane. 
If I have to be empty, then the world will be too, 
I’m becoming the storm that I used to pass through.

[Verse 3]
The dirt is a beggar, the wind is a lie, 
The land only loves you to watch you go dry. 
But I am the current, the pull, and the tide, 
I’m the only one left with nowhere to hide. 
You slipped from the light where the willow trees live, 
And I’m keeping the catch...the river doesn’t forgive.

[Outro]
Let the town build their bridges, let the mourners all weep, 
I have secrets to drown and a lover to keep. 
The river doesn’t forgive... No, the river doesn't forgive.

female solo, jazz standard, torch singer, sultry & sad, love song, with string bass, muted trumpets & tenor saxophone