Don’t Follow the Lantern

[Intro | distant female whisper | marsh wind | tolling bell]

[Sable | whispered]

When the lantern calls your name
Do not answer
Do not follow

[Verse 1 | Elias | deep baritone | restrained | gothic storyteller]

I was walking the old road home
Past the chapel and the stones
When a golden light appeared
Where no living soul should roam

It drifted softly through the trees
Like a candle on the breeze
Then a voice beyond the darkness
Said, “Come closer, follow me”

[Pre-Chorus | Elias | tension rising]

Every step pulled me farther
Every shadow knew my name
Then I heard her through the mist
Calling out above the rain

[Chorus | Elias and Sable | powerful duet | catchy]

Don’t follow the lantern
Don’t follow the light
It leads through the water
And steals you from the night

Don’t follow the lantern
No matter what you hear
When it calls you by your true name
Turn away and disappear

[Post-Chorus | layered duet chant]

Turn away
Turn away
Don’t let the lantern lead the way

[Verse 2 | Sable | smoky mezzo-soprano | urgent | haunting]

I have waited by the roadside
Since the night the river rose
I have warned a hundred strangers
But the lantern always knows

It will wear a lover’s voice
It will show a childhood door
It will promise you the one thing
You have always wanted more

[Pre-Chorus | Sable | building intensity]

I saw him moving through the reeds
With the dead light in his eyes
So I ran into the blackness
While the drowned began to rise

[Chorus | Elias and Sable | full duet | heavier guitars]

Don’t follow the lantern
Don’t follow the light
It leads through the water
And steals you from the night

Don’t follow the lantern
No matter what you hear
When it calls you by your true name
Turn away and disappear

[Instrumental Break | gothic guitar riff | pounding toms | distant choir]

[Bridge | Elias and Sable | call and response | dramatic]

[Elias | low | entranced]

I can hear my mother singing

[Sable | urgent]

That is not her voice

[Elias | haunted]

I can see my old home waiting

[Sable | powerful]

You still have a choice

[Elias | rising intensity]

There’s a lantern on the water

[Sable | commanding]

Do not cross the line

[Elias | desperate]

It is calling me to follow

[Sable | soaring]

Take my hand and stay alive

[Breakdown | Both | whispered chant | drums building]

One light
Two shadows
Cold hands
Black water

One step
No return
Let the false light burn

[Final Chorus | Elias and Sable | soaring duet | layered harmonies]

Don’t follow the lantern
Don’t follow the light
It leads through the water
And steals you from the night

Don’t follow the lantern
No matter what you hear
When it calls you by your true name
Turn away and disappear

Don’t follow the lantern
Hold tightly to my hand
Let it sink beneath the water
Let it die where we now stand

[Final Post-Chorus | Elias and Sable | chantable | full band]

Turn away
Turn away
We will not be led astray

Turn away
Turn away
Let the lantern fade away

[Outro | Sable whisper | distant water]

When the lantern calls your name

[Elias | deep whisper]

Do not answer

[Both | whispered]

Do not follow