The Temporary or the Permanent Mark

Lyrics

[Intro]
In the salt-heavy air of the Andamans.
Half-buried in damp sand, where no one is allowed to walk.
A glint of silver. An inscription meant for one person's eyes.

[Verse 1]
I trace the letters and I'm back in Rajasthan.
A low-ceilinged room, thirty-eight degrees, no fan.
The sharp, grassy smell of Lawsonia paste.
Her hands, stained brown, move with a practiced haste.
Filling a cone with a bicycle-pump syringe, an old workshop trick.
Painting flowers and vines on a young bride's skin.
Art that will deepen, then crack, then fade in three weeks' time.
This woman they called Permanent.

[Chorus]
So which one is the promise?
The pattern that lives for a moment on the body?
Or the words cut into metal, meant to last forever?
Which one is the truth?
The temporary or the permanent mark?

[Verse 2]
She must have held this, felt its weight in her palm.
Maybe on the boat ride out, trying to stay calm.
Past the signs that say KEEP OUT.
Her fingers, that knew how to make a thousand temporary vows,
Opened. Let the permanent thing go.
She watched it fall.
A secret for the reef and the restricted shore.
Something she wouldn't have to look at anymore.

[Bridge]
What name is in this carving?
What date, what promise made?
I turn it over in my own hands.
She drew love that was designed to disappear.
She left the love that was meant to stay right here.
A choice was made.
To live with the fading, and abandon the forever.

[Chorus]
So which one is the promise?
The pattern that lives for a moment on the body?
Or the words cut into metal, meant to last forever?
Which one is the truth?
The temporary or the permanent mark?

[Outro]
The silver is cold against my skin.
The inscription is unreadable in the fading light.
And the tide is coming in.