[Intro]
The font was full
The water black
Ash on the surface
No way back

[Verse 1]
I found the basin by the aisle
Carved deep with thorn and vine
The water held a little moon
In pieces, not in shine
I reached to bless my trembling brow
To make the fever pass
But ash was drifting in the bowl
Like snow beneath black glass

[Verse 2]
It clung around my fingertips
A gray and bitter skin
The scent of rain and altar smoke
Drew every memory in
Your coat beside the hospital chair
My phone face down all night
The message waiting in the dark
I did not read in time

[Pre-Chorus]
No water makes the guilty clean
When guilt is what they choose
The font reflected both my hands
And all I stood to lose

[Chorus]
Holy water ashes
Floating where I kneel
Tell me what is mercy
If mercy still can feel
Holy water ashes
Blacken every prayer
I came to wash the death from me
And found my silence there

[Verse 3]
A bell struck once beneath the floor
The ripples crossed the bowl
The ash arranged itself like words
Too old for any soul
I saw the shape of your last room
A curtain, cup, and sheet
The rain against the window glass
The hallway’s failing heat

[Pre-Chorus]
I was not cruel in thunder
I was cruel in delay
A locked door needs no hatred
To keep a voice away

[Chorus]
Holy water ashes
Floating where I kneel
Tell me what is mercy
If mercy still can feel
Holy water ashes
Blacken every prayer
I came to wash the death from me
And found my silence there

[Breakdown]
Wash me
No
Name me
No
Hold me
No
Tell me what I owe

[Bridge]
Then from the nave a woman sang
Not angry, not divine
She sang as if the broken thing
Had never once been mine
And in that sound I understood
The dead do not demand
The living build their prisons
And call the bars a hand

[Build-up]
Ash in the water
Ash in the lung
Ash on the letter
Ash on the tongue

[Final Chorus]
Holy water ashes
Floating where I kneel
Tell me what is mercy
If mercy still can feel
Holy water ashes
Blacken every prayer
I came to wash the death from me
And found my silence there
Holy water ashes
Do not make me clean
Make me true enough to stand
Before what I have seen

[Outro]
The font was full
The water black
I left my palmprint
And stepped back