Daddy do you remember the glass garden
The lantern keeper and the paper whale
I kept an ember there just for you and me
It's been glowing all this time it never left the trail
I was six drawing oceans on the ceiling of my room
The glass garden grew there alive in the gloom
The Lantern Keeper walked the paths with his little flame
And the Paper Whale swam through the air with no name
I had a whistle made of rain that was the only key
To call the whale to light the dark to set the garden free
Then she came in said stop this dreaming look at what you've done
She closed the curtains and the garden lost its sun
Daddy do you remember the glass garden
The lantern keeper and the paper whale
I kept an ember there just for you and me
It's been glowing all this time it never left the trail
I grew up packed the lantern with my childhood clothes
Got a desk got a clock forgot the way the whale rose
The glass garden cracked the pieces swept away
The whistle made of rain rusted shut gone gray
I told my own kid stop pretending focus on your test
Don't waste time on things that aren't real aren't the best
I thought I'd killed the keeper thought the ember died
I thought the garden was a story I'd buried with my pride
Daddy do you remember the glass garden
The lantern keeper and the paper whale
I kept an ember there just for you and me
It's been glowing all this time it never left the trail
Then my daughter came to me with something in her palm
A little seashell humming like a long-lost calm
She said Daddy listen the keeper sent me this
He said you locked the garden but it still exists
And I felt my chest crack open felt the years unspool
I saw the Lantern Keeper standing there quiet and cool
He said the garden never broke you just stopped looking through
The ember was always here just waiting for someone new
So I sat down on the floor and I let her show me how
To see the whale in the curtains to hear the keeper now
She put the shell to my ear said Daddy can you hear it
And I could I could hear it the rain and the spirit
The garden came back all at once the glass began to sing
The Lantern Keeper smiled said welcome back you've been
A child of the garden you just forgot the way
But your daughter found the shell she brought back the day
Daddy do you remember the glass garden
The lantern keeper and the paper whale
I kept an ember there just for you and me
It's been glowing all this time it never left the trail
