Before the Morning Breaks

The sky was pale before the sun

And every stone was holding rain

Lantern shadows half undone

Were trembling softly in the lane

The city breathed in silver air

As if it knew the day by heart

Voices rose from everywhere

And pulled the quiet world apart

I didn't need to name the feeling

It moved before I understood

Like light arriving through a window

Changing everything it touched

I thought I came here for the city

For the fever in its summer veins

But somewhere in the sound and water

You began to stay

In the rush before the daylight

In the pulse beneath the blue

I was falling for the morning

And somehow, also you

A sudden splash, a lifted cry

White breath fading in the air

I turned to watch the street come alive

And found your outline waiting there

Not close enough to call it fate

Not far enough to disappear

Just one face inside the motion

Becoming strangely clear

I let the moment pass in silence

Afraid that words would make it small

Some things are brighter when they hover

Just before they learn to fall

I thought I came here for the city

For the fever in its summer veins

But somewhere in the sound and water

You began to stay

In the rush before the daylight

In the pulse beneath the blue

I was falling for the morning

And somehow, also you

Maybe it was only weather

Maybe just the season's art

How a place can open slowly

And leave a mark upon the heart

Maybe I was only listening

To the street side never known

But every step the morning gathered

Led me closer than before

I thought I came here for the city

For the shimmer in the waking rain

But somewhere in the heat around me

You became the trace

In the hour before the sunlight

When the world felt fresh and new

I was losing myself in Hakata

And finding something true

Now the sky is full and burning

And the day has taken shape

But the quiet before the brightness

Is the part I cannot shake