The Tomb of Ghost and Me

You had my heart in your hands

Then I let it slip away

I left you there in the dust

In your early spring

I gambled on the truth

And I traded your warmth

For a chance to build us a home

Left you there all alone

Then I heard through the wire

A knife stabbed through my soul

You were carrying my child

While I chased my pride

Another man sowed in my field

And gathered what I failed to keep

All the gold I bled to win

Turned to ashes at my feet

Instrumental Break

Seventeen hundred kilometers

Through the mountains and the shadows

You came with a newborn child

To the doorstep of my home

You had the courage to stand there

Offering your shattered grace

And I stood there like thunder

But I could not scream in your face

The door slammed like a coffin lid

It tore through my very bones

The cruelest thing I ever did

Was leave you there with a child alone

Winter bled into my marrow

Silence cut me like a knife

As I watched your shadow walk away

The bravest spirit in this life

Chorus

Oh, 1700 kilometers

You moved just to reach my door

Across the crags and the dark

To my blind eyes that did not see more

I promised you the heavens

But I shut out the sky

Now the thunder is my breath

And I'll mourn until I die

You believed our love was stronger

Than the poison in the blood

You stood against the deluge

Pulled us from the rising flood

I torched the idle riches

Tore the steel out of my chest

Built a sanctuary out of earth

To give your spirit rest

Four walls of wood and mortar

Green earth beneath the sun

A deep blue water pool for summer

A place for a family to grow as one

I poured my soul into foundations

Thought I'd wash away the sin

Foolish hands trying to mend

What my absence broke within

There's a hearth for your heart

There's a cradle for her breath

There's room for our laughter

To rise up and conquer death

I'd hold her as my flesh

Carve my life to make you whole

Scream I'm remorseful to the mountains

Till it reaches your sweet soul

Then in the low light of the tavern

Where the heavy spirits flow

I swore before your bloodline

That I'd pack my rig and go

"I'm heading north to claim them

Bring them home where they belong

We'll mend the broken threads

And make the silence into song"

But their eyes sank to the shadows

And their voices dropped like lead

"Lay down your reins, dear brother

Leave the ghost inside her head

She has walked through Hell's own furnace

Drowned in fire, rain, and stone

If you ever truly loved her

Turn around and walk alone"

Chorus

Oh, 1700 kilometers

And the machine refuses to start

The track is drowned in ashes

And the frost has claimed my heart

Do I ride into the tempest?

Or drop my head and let you be?

I bought a place for family souls

It's a tomb of ghost and me

If love is in the riding

I'll ride into the dark

If love is in the staying

I'll freeze without a spark

May the winds carry my weeping

Past the mountains and the sea

I never stopped loving you

Not for a breath, not for eternity

Instrumental Break

Outro

You see