Track Insight / Lyrics
The harbor bell is low
Salt rests on the glass
One quiet key remains
Beyond the lamp and mast
He polished every key for forty years
Before he learned the weight of other tears
His hands knew every lock till none gave way
Still no one had a key for him to stay
He mended gates where weathered sailors go
And carried tiny fires from shore to shore
He slept beside his tools, a lamp burned low
But saved one shining key he did not know
[Pre-
The hinges had been waiting in the tide
A silence in the iron stirred inside
He lifted up the key with steady hands
And heard a heartbeat through the old oak bands
He turned his own key tonight
And the doorway swung wide
He left the lock behind
And made the sea his guide
He turned his own key tonight
And the empty hallway shined
No sail or storm can take
The man he came to find
He counted every boat that left the pier
And logged the names of those who disappeared
He mapped the channels worn beneath the foam
Till every lonely mile led him back home
A storm had cracked the hinges years before
Now rain tapped softly on the open door
He reached for one warm room and did not fear
The quiet that had sheltered him this year
[Pre-
The darkness held its breath beneath the beam
A light slipped through the door and caught the seam
The first bright morning stirred upon the sill
The sea remained, but it no longer filled
He turned his own key tonight
And the doorway swung wide
He left the lock behind
And made the sea his guide
He turned his own key tonight
And the empty hallway shined
No sail or storm can take
The man he came to find
He found a cup still warm beside the sink
And heard his own footsteps pause and sink
The rooms were small and bare, the paint was thin
Yet morning rested gently on his skin
A letter from a sailor lay in blue
It only said, the harbor waits for you
He read the words and let his shoulders fall
The bravest act he knew was giving all
For years he kept the lighthouse burning gold
Then walked the shore through rain and winter cold
He turned the key, and fear withdrew its hand
A plain old room became the promised land
He opened every shutter to the sound
Of fishing boats returning to the ground
The gulls cried out above the waking bay
As April softened all the yesterday
He set his bag beside the wooden chair
And left one window breathing autumn air
No map could mark the peace inside his chest
He knew the time had come to come to rest
He turned his own key tonight
And the doorway swung wide
He left the lock behind
And made the sea his guide
He turned his own key tonight
And the empty hallway shined
No sail or storm can take
The man he came to find
He turned his own key tonight
And the whole world opened wide
He left the lock behind
With the sunrise at his side
He turned his own key tonight
And the harbor gates unshined
No lighthouse keeping then
Just the home he came to find
The harbor bell is low
Salt rests on the glass
One lock lies open wide
And he has come home at last
