Carry On (Everdeen Remix)

A/N

A song by one of my favorite musicians about losing her father at a young age, with alternate lyrics suited to Katniss' situation. Based on Carry On by Kristine Flaherty AKA K. Flay, with many new lyrics by Alan Gilfoy in the world of Suzanne Collins.

I had the idea for awhile, but on Father's Day 2012 I decided to actually write it.

The song's arrangement is acoustic guitar only. K. Flay described it on her website as "capo on 2nd fret. em, am, cmaj7. rinse and repeat."

.

With each stroke of this pen I connect

Reflect on what was gained, what was learned.

Nothing left of the shards of your body

As the cave capsized, you were broken into fragments

I'm your strongest legacy

I'd save Prim and Ma with the hidden archery

It's been five years since we last met

I still dream of you, the brutally surreal scenes

Are visions brought back by tracker jacker stings

Your spirit lingers as my eyes scan the woods

You were reduced to little more than coal dust,

atoms now recycled, Ma was lost without your touch

Where was my faith when I needed it?

It was in a bakery backyard, two loaves charred by an angel

Emaciated figures, our hearts and bodies ravaged but we still managed

To make it the many months between your death

and the twelfth anniversary of when I first drew breath

My feet move forth but I stumble as I tread

Pages written in a book that you and I once read, they said

.

Any day I could be gone and you must carry on, carry on [x3]

.

It's difficult to say exactly what I feel

Lost in translation, but with you here there was always a meal

While thinking about The Boy With The Bread, saw a yellow flower

Stirred memories of the woods and so ended our darkest hour

I hope it lasts, this feeling that you're watching from above

And that you know I dedicate this music to your love

Vocal cords resonate with thoughts of your doomed fate as I sit and contemplate

We were brought up amidst coal dust; it poisoned us

You were forced to die deep below; you loved the open air so much

Always afraid you'd come home as a corpse

As a scared kid tried to keep my eyes from the floor

Don't look down - in fact, shut your eyelids entirely

The knowledge that you'll never know us more has got me crying

Death signifies the loss of a fragile life

For every moment that you miss, I send to what I hope is Heaven your eldest daughter's kiss

We can't speak, pray to no one in particular my wish will one day meet your cheek

Hold my head up high but I stumble as I tread

Pages written in a book that you and I once read, they said

.

Any day I could be gone and you must carry on, carry on [x3]

.

Now I'm channeling the memories that welled up after your death

Bereft, frightened that in a short time I would lose sight of the subtleties of our relationship - all the reminders

The way your leather jacket smelled of sweat and pine tar

That's the fragrance of a hunter; I was bound to go far

I'm still your child

I'm still your child

You are my teacher

I learned how to be as a good a person as you were

That day I froze

I worried that I'd meet your fate, dying stepping up for Primrose

All I learned imprinted in my mind

I am singing as you did; the birds stop for me too and their chirps ascend

Wasted potential - I know it wasn't meant to end like this, with you lifeless

In an urn full of ashes, gashes that are reopened every time a word is spoken

For you live and breathe within the parts of me deep down that are forever broken

Father, rest in peace but I stumble as I tread

Pages written in a book that you and I once read, they said

.

Any day I could be gone and you must carry on, carry on [x3]

.

Go forth and so on and so forth [x3]

But still I miss you

Go forth and so on and so forth [x3]