Echoes from the Valley

Footsteps on a road that's seen your name before A wisp of dawn seeping through the door You carry the weight like an old pack slung low Miles in your boots and a story in tow A father's heart patched with battles and grief Chasing the hours outrunning the time Your past is a map with the corners burned thin Every shade branded and etched into skin Yet you rise every morning to a silence stretched wide Still carrying echoes that won't let you hide You've walked through storms that tried to knock you blind You've held your ground when the world turned unkind And even when the night said you were done You kept your eyes open waiting for the sun You're a soldier of the heart still learning how to heal A man outpaced by the clock but steady in his will Yeah life's been throwing punches you've taken every one But you still find a light in the cracks where the dark comes undone You keep standing even shaking cause you know what's real A father a fighter a soul that refuses to kneel The world's speeding past while you move slow and true The dreams you once carried now carry you As memories fade the echoes haunt still The hurt smoothed down like old concrete Dropping the past off the summit Still hearing it call out from the valley There's gold in the grit of the man you've become A flicker of grace where your fears come undone Even when the mirror showed a stranger staring back You've swallowed the questions that hung thick in the air Even when the razor kissed the skin under your wrist A small voice her voice called you back from the abyss You're a soldier of the heart still learning how to heal A man outpaced by the clock but steady in his will Yeah life's been throwing punches you've taken every one But you still find a light in the cracks where the dark comes undone You keep standing even shaking cause you know what's real A father a fighter a soul that refuses to kneel You've held the line through the worst of the fight Still kept a candle burning in the long cold night And though the world tries to tell you your moment has died You feel a quiet power steadying rising inside You're a soldier of the heart still learning how to heal A man outpaced by the clock but steady in his will Yeah life's been throwing punches you've taken every one But you still find a light in the cracks where the dark comes undone You keep standing even shaking cause you know what's real A father a fighter a soul that refuses to kneel The world keeps moving but you're still alive And sometimes surviving is how men shine