Salt In Our Mouths

wandering
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YouTube Music
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Lyrics

Verse 1

Salt in our mouths,

Dust on our skin,

We count each swallow

Before it goes in.

We rest out of Eyru’s light,

Cloth pulled tight,

Then rise and walk

When the world turns night.

Verse 2

We don’t speak much,

It costs our breath,

We don’t say hunger,

We don’t say regret.

We were shown a way,

We turned aside—

The road remembers

What we denied.

Refrain

If there is green,

Let it be there

If there is water,

Let it be here.

Not for forever,

Not to stay—

Just enough

For another day.

Verse 3

Salt in our mouths,

Stars like knives,

We don’t lie down

And keep our lives.

The keepers watch quiet,

Their words unsaid—

The beasts own the dark.

We walk instead.

Refrain

If there is green,

Let it be there

If there is water,

Let it be here.

Not for comfort,

Not for sleep—

Just enough

That we can eat.

Verse 4

Our packs grow light,

Our shadows gone,

We trade old songs

To move us along.

If green was real,

If shade was kind—

Let us reach it

And hold it this time.

Final Refrain

If there is green,

Let it be there

If there is water,

Let it be here.

Not a promise,

Not a dream—

Just enough

To stay on our feet.

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The Story

Salt In Our Mouths is an original song from the TrueDark Rising world. It belongs to the Salt Road -- the stretch of desert the Kinsfolk crossed after turning away from Nareth, the Keeper they chose not to meet.

The song remembers the cost of refusal. No knowledge was gained. No gift was offered. The Kinsfolk turned aside, and the road remembered what they denied. The verses are spare and dry as the landscape they describe -- salt in our mouths, dust on our skin, counting each swallow before it goes in. They rest out of Eyru's light, cloth pulled tight, then rise and walk when the world turns night.

The refrain carries the only prayer left to people who have nothing: if there is green, let it be there. If there is water, let it be here. Not for forever, not to stay -- just enough for another day. Salt In Our Mouths remembers that sometimes the cost of refusing knowledge is paid in thirst, and that the road after Nareth was the longest the Kinsfolk ever walked.

Like all songs of this world, it serves as memory. It is meant to be sung through cracked lips, and understood fully only in hindsight.