Shadow Parish

[Verse 1]
The fog off the river eats the Ambassador's lights.
We tally the ghosts on these long November nights.
There’s a space where the engine plant used to scream and bleed,
the iron taste of winter in the air we breathe.

[Chorus]
Do we kill 'em all again when we forget their names?
Scour the bruise of memory 'til the color fades?
We hold our breath and listen for a ringing sound,
for the echo of a footstep on this hollow ground.

[Verse 2]
The old men on the benches say, "That ain't our corner now..."
Pointin' with a tired hand at where the walls came down.
We trace the lines on photographs, faces gone to gray,
and practice sayin' yesterday was just another day.

[Chorus]
Do we kill 'em all again when we forget their names?
Scour the bruise of memory 'til the color fades?
We hold our breath and listen for a ringing sound,
for the echo of a footstep on this hollow ground.

[Bridge]
This ain't a quiet sorrow, this ain't a gentle grief.
It's the tightening of sinew, it's a clenched-jaw belief.
We keep the ledger, we hold the count,
for every single shadow this city's run out.

[Outro]
Forget their names...
...on this hollow ground.