[Verse 1]
The shoreline packed its bags one winter,
Pulled the tide beyond the hills.
The gulls forgot their names in silence,
The harbour learned to stand still.
Boats grew gardens through their rib bones,
Anchors slept beneath the grain.
Every map became a memory,
But the old light burned the same.
---
[Pre-Chorus]
Everyone said,
"There's nothing left to guide."
He just wound the gears,
Every single night.
---
[Chorus]
The lighthouse stayed on
Long after the sea had gone.
Throwing white across the wheat
Like waves were still beneath his feet.
Some call it foolish,
Some call it faith,
Some say grief just works that way.
When everything else has moved along...
The lighthouse stayed on.
---
[Verse 2]
Children laughed at empty windows,
Never knowing what they'd missed.
They thought the beam was just a ghost light,
Painting circles through the mist.
But old men stopped and tipped their hats,
As the evening swallowed gold.
Because somebody remembered
What the young were never told.
---
[Pre-Chorus]
Some lights aren't lit
Because somebody can see.
Some lights are lit
Because that's who we're meant to be.
---
[Chorus]
The lighthouse stayed on
Long after the sea had gone.
Searching fields instead of foam,
Still trying to lead somebody home.
Maybe no one
Would ever arrive,
Still he kept that promise alive.
When everything else had come and gone...
The lighthouse stayed on.
---
[Bridge]
Maybe love isn't a harbour.
Maybe hope isn't a shore.
Maybe all we're really given
Is one small light...
Nothing more.
So we lift it.
Even shaking.
Even broken.
Even worn.
Because somewhere in the darkness,
Someone else is riding out a storm.
---
[Final Chorus]
The lighthouse stayed on
Though no ships crossed the dawn.
Till the keeper's hands grew weak,
Till the stones forgot to speak.
And on the morning
He finally was gone,
The villagers climbed before first light.
One by one they turned the gears,
One by one they faced the years.
Now every evening,
When daylight's gone,
The lighthouse...
Still stays on.
---
[Outro]
Maybe the sea never left.
Maybe it was us.