[Intro][Three isolated piano notes sound beneath the low hum of a moving train. The workshop audience stays silent.]

[Verse 1][Female Vocal: Elena]
Twenty years south in a photograph frame,
The harbour stayed blue while I shortened my name.
I learned northern pavements and pipes in the walls,
Bought shoes for the ice and spoke less on my calls.
My mother sent recipes, weather, small news,
I answered at Christmas on cards bought in haste.
She ended each letter with, "We think of you."
I kept every letter in one battered case.

[Chorus][Female Vocal: Elena]
Twenty Years South is a long way home,
Past every excuse I rehearsed on my own.
The train knows the station; my hands still shake.
The street may look different at each turn I take.
Twenty Years South, in the black window glow,
I know where I'm going, not who I will know.

[Verse 2][Female Vocal: Elena]
I left after shouting beside the front stair.
My brother said, "Go, then." My mother stood still.
I waited for someone to ask me to stay;
They waited for me to turn back down the hill.
I rented a room and stopped giving the street;
One coat by the door and one plate when I'd eat.
Last winter a neighbour wrote, "The house has been sold."
Red curtains, long table — all gone with the cold.

[Chorus][Female Vocal: Elena]
Twenty Years South is a long way home,
Past every excuse I rehearsed on my own.
The train knows the station; my hands still shake.
The street may look different at each turn I take.
Twenty Years South, in the black window glow,
I know where I'm going, not who I will know.

[Piano Interlude][The piano descends through the whistle motif while acoustic guitar keeps the slow carriage sway.]

[Verse 3][Female Vocal: Elena]
Nico asked who would meet me at dawn.
I said, "No one. The old house is sold."
He gave back the photograph; night carried on.
The harbour stayed blue while the window felt cold.
"Meet what is there," he said, quiet and low.
"Not only the town as it stood years ago."
I slipped the old photograph back in its frame,
And watched my face settle across the dark pane.

[Bridge][Female Vocal: Elena]
The house could be painted; the bell could be gone.
My brother might pass without knowing my face.
Still I could step down when the train carried on,
And climb the old street at a stranger's slow pace.

[Final Chorus][Female Vocal: Elena with Soft Male Harmony: Nico]
Twenty Years South is a long way home,
Past every excuse I rehearsed on my own.
The train knows the station; my hands still shake.
The street may look different at each turn I take.
Twenty Years South, in the black window glow,
I know where I'm going, not who I will know.

[Post-Chorus][Female Vocal: Elena]
Twenty years north, one night running south;
My old name and new name both fit in my mouth.

[Outro][Elena holds the final word while the piano leaves one note unresolved.]

[Female Vocal: Elena]
One night going down.
One photograph worn.
No one at the platform.
Still, I will get off.