The Secret I Breathe (3)

​[Verse 1]
[Silent moment]
I leave the shadows at the bottom of the stair,
I shake the city’s hunger from my hair.
The smell of gunpowder, the taste of the grime,
I bury them deep in the pockets of time.
You turn around and you offer a smile,
And the world I inhabit stands still for a while.
I’m no longer the King, I’m no longer the Law,
Just a man with a ghost in the grip of his jaw.

​[Verse 2]
You tell me of books and the dreams that you weave,
Of a life full of light that I’ll never achieve.
Your voice is a melody, soft and so clear,
It drowns out the screams that I usually hear.
I look at your hands, so steady and white,
Not a stain on your soul, not a scar from the night.
And I’d burn every bridge, I’d kill every man,
To keep you a stranger to all that I am.

​[Chorus]
For you are the secret I breathe in the dark,
The only clean flame from a murderous spark.
I build you a fortress of silence and lies,
To keep the gray world from your beautiful eyes.
They can take my empire, they can take every street,
But they’ll never find where our two worlds meet.
You’re the air in my lungs, the grace I don’t deserve...
The only truth I’m left to preserve.

​[Bridge]
[The music grows more intense, reflecting his inner turmoil]
Sometimes I wonder... if you saw the blood,
If my name was dragged through the city’s black mud...
Would you look at me different? Would you turn away?
Would the light in this room turn to stormy and gray?

I’m a wolf in the garden, a thief in the hall,
Holding up heaven so you don't have to fall!
But the lie is a mountain, a weight on my chest,
Even here, in your light... I can’t find any rest.

​[Guitar/Violin Solo]
[A melancholic, sweeping melody]

​[Final Chorus]
Yes, you are the secret I breathe in the dark,
The only clean flame from a murderous spark.
I’ll build you a fortress of silence and lies,
To keep the gray world from your beautiful eyes.
They can have my soul, they can have my life,
I’ll endure the bullet, I’ll endure the knife...
Just to keep you safe.

​[Outro]
[The music fades to a single, pulsing piano note]
[whispering]
Stay in the light, Maria.
Don’t look at the door.
I’ll be back soon...
When the war is no more.

male, Tender piano ballad, intimate, emotional, woodwind accents, soaring strings, Broadway storytelling, 72bpm, soulful