Border in My Bones

[Verse 1]
Paper walls, iron lines
Every door says "wait your time"
I trace rivers on a map
With a shaking thumb
Stories written in my face
Of another soil, another place
But my feet are packed in concrete
Where I come from comes undone
[Chorus]
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
I can hear my name sung over the sea
Every road I take turns back, gets lost
But my home still reaches out for me
If I can't go to that old ground
I'll carry it in every sound
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
But it can't cut it out of me
[Verse 2]
Grandmother's voice on a broken call
Says the orchard's blooming by the wall
Says the hills remember us
Though we faded from their dust
I hang photos by my bed
Little doors for my head
Step through each night, barefoot
Till the morning locks me up
[Chorus]
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
I can hear my name sung over the sea
Every road I take turns back, gets lost
But my home still reaches out for me
If I can't go to that old ground
I'll carry it in every sound
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
But it can't cut it out of me
[Bridge]
Stamp gets stamped, then stamped denied (again, again)
Lines get drawn on every side
But there’s a land in my blood that won't be signed away
(oh, I hear you)
You call through wind, through crowded rooms
Through concrete nights, fluorescent moons
I'm rooted here
But I'm already on my way
[Chorus]
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
I can hear my name sung over the sea
Every road I take turns back, gets lost
But my home still reaches out for me
If I can't walk that ancient ground
I'll speak its name, I’ll make it sound
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
But it can't cut it out of me
[Outro]
You are the drum in my chest
You are the word in my breath
They can hold my body here
But my spirit's breaking west (oh-oh)
There's a border in my bones I can't cross
But you still live in me

Cinematic folk-soul ballad driven by fingerpicked acoustic guitar and warm piano, building into a resolute halftime groove with deep toms and airy percussion; female vocals start intimate and close, then rise into a powerful, sustained chorus with stacked harmonies; subtle strings swell in the second half, with a distant choir-style backing in the final chorus to echo the ancestral call, female vocals, emotional