Cedar Dust and Maps

[Intro]
[Verse]
Cedar dust in the air
Sunlight hits the rocking chair
Cracked vents let in the light
Everything feels almost right
Blue velvet faded to grey
Hidden for a lifetime away
[Pre-Chorus]
Latch clicks soft and slow
Secrets only the rafters know
I find the rusted key
To set the silence free
[Chorus]
It’s the quiet what-if
In the grain of the wood
She stayed where she stood
For the sake of the good
Now the music is clear
No more shadow or fear
Just a soft, gentle rest
In the cedar chest
[Post-Chorus]
Oh, let it go
Oh, now I know
[Verse]
Tucked under rusted strings
Notes on the songs she’d sing
Nashville circled in red
Words that were never said
Margins filled with a plan
Before the family began
[Pre-Chorus]
Faded ink on the page
From a different kind of age
She was ready to fly
Under a wide open sky
[Chorus]
It’s the quiet what-if
In the grain of the wood
She stayed where she stood
For the sake of the good
Now the music is clear
No more shadow or fear
Just a soft, gentle rest
In the cedar chest
[Bridge]
She traded the stage for the home
No more reason to roam
But the cedar remembers the spark
A light left alone in the dark
I feel the weight of the choice
In the ghost of her voice
[Verse]
My hands trace the curve
Finding the rhythm and nerve
To finish the song she started
For the brave and the brokenhearted
[Chorus]
It’s the quiet what-if
In the grain of the wood
She stayed where she stood
For the sake of the good
Now the music is clear
No more shadow or fear
Just a soft, gentle rest
In the cedar chest
[Outro]