The Glass and the Fern

[Intro]
[Verse]
The iron gate is red with rust
Turning keys through layers of dust
Thirty years have drifted by
Underneath a copper sky
The hinges moan a tired plea
Waking from the deep blue sea
[Chorus]
The wheeling gulls call out your name
The hollow house is not the same
But in the creak of the silver lens
A father’s song begins again
The golden hour starts to fade
In the light that he once made
We are shadows on the shore
Knocking at the cottage door
[Verse]
Moss has claimed the stone-paved path
In the winter’s quiet aftermath
Sea glass buried in the dirt
Healing every ancient hurt
The fern and frond are growing tall
Against the crumbling garden wall
[Pre-Chorus]
The wind is whispering through the glass
Watching all the seasons pass
The stream is gurgling in the glen
Bringing back the world of men
[Chorus]
The wheeling gulls call out your name
The hollow house is not the same
But in the creak of the silver lens
A father’s song begins again
The golden hour starts to fade
In the light that he once made
We are shadows on the shore
Knocking at the cottage door
[Bridge]
Salt upon the window pane
Washing clean in summer rain
The mechanism starts to groan
A heavy heart of ancient stone
The psaltery begins to play
Chasing all the ghosts away
The cor anglais hums a low refrain
Distant as the falling rain
[Instrumental]
[Verse]
I find the boots beside the bed
Where the oldest prayers were said
A rusted lamp, a broken chair
Salt and cedar in the air
I hear the shanty in the floor
Louder than the ocean's roar
[Chorus]
The wheeling gulls call out your name
The hollow house is not the same
But in the creak of the silver lens
A father’s song begins again
The golden hour starts to fade
In the light that he once made
We are shadows on the shore
Knocking at the cottage door
[Outro]