Caravan on the Coast

[Verse 1]
Dust in the dawn
Bare feet on the burning sand
Rope on the wrists
Names taken by a stranger’s hand
Sky feels heavy
Salt wind cutting through the cries
Mothers walking
All the color leaving in their eyes
[Chorus]
Caravan on the coast
Where the water swallows names
Walking where the world
Pretends it never came
Carry every story
On a back already sore
Caravan on the coast
Leaving footprints
Nothing more
[Verse 2]
Songs in a whisper
Old words turning into ash
Eyes on the shoreline
Where the waves rise up and crash
One boy counting
Every step like it’s a prayer
Holds his sister
As the traders stand and stare
[Chorus]
Caravan on the coast
Where the water swallows names
Walking where the world
Pretends it never came
Carry every story
On a back already sore
Caravan on the coast
Leaving footprints
Nothing more
[Bridge]
Who will remember?
Who will speak them into light? (oh)
Shadows on the ocean
Still marching through the night
[Chorus]
Caravan on the coast
Where the water swallows names
Walking where the world
Pretends it never came
Carry every story
On a back already sore
Caravan on the coast
We will say you
Evermore

Minor-key East African folk with hand percussion, deep drums, and a mournful oud or nyatiti line; male vocals upfront, intimate. Verses stay hushed over soft shakers, chorus swells with layered call-and-response and distant group hums, evoking ritual and memory. Subtle ambient waves and wind textures glue the track together, ending on a lingering vocal note.