Firebreak on the Water

Intro

Salt air, engine coughs on the breakwater.

Fireline lit at exactly six a.m.

I'm the last man holding.

Verse 1

Two-foot draft and a crew of three

Rigging cracked where the gale got in.

They said the hull was too small for this sea

So we filled her with diesel, watched it sink in.

Your hand slipped loose when the first wave hit

I don't remember the sound that I made.

It's only firebreaks and the water bit

Nothing left to save but what I saved from your name.

Chorus

Firebreak on the water

Running till my ribs forget where they end.

Every light in the harbor still glowing red

Still burning like it never had a home instead.

We made our own kind of firebreak tonight —

Just me and you against the open tide.

I'll keep the embers for another mile —

Firebreak on the water till I'm gone and dry.

Verse 2

Watchtower sirens dying down below

Sweat slicked silver where the salt got in.

The ship was listing when they cut the line

But we kept her floating like a promise made again.

I carved your initials into the wheel

The smoke machine caught and wouldn't clear.

They said retreat, I just looked up at you —

Said we'd outrun this, said we'd get through —

You were singing louder than the gale tonight —

Every word that drowned out the light.

Now your jacket's tied around my neck like a flag

I'm still standing while the harbor turns to glass.

That's all that matters — not where you are now

Just the fire we made before it went —

Firebreak on the water till I'm gone and dry —

I'll carry every mile of this —

Every light in the harbor that never died.

Chorus

Firebreak on the water

Running till my ribs forget where they end.

Every light in the harbor still glowing red

Still burning like it never had a home instead.

We made our own kind of firebreak tonight —

Just me and you against the open tide.

I'll keep the embers for another mile —

Firebreak on the water till I'm gone and dry.

Bridge

Maybe I was chasing something in your eyes —

Something that the current couldn't steal.

If this is how it ends, at least we chose to shine —

Not go out quiet like a fire that never needed fuel.

I don't need to reach the shore anymore —

Just hold on tight and watch the harbor floor.

This isn't goodbye — this is the spark —

The flame that burns so hot it makes us new.

We were never built to save the sea —

Only to light up every wave we're free in —

Firebreak on the water till I'm gone and dry —