Two minutes in and none of it was real No wall of photographs, no family to reveal She named her mother, named an aunt by trade A hundred years of people that she made I stood there married into someone else's line No history behind me, just a guitar and time I told her she was staying out of guilt She told me why I left, and how the silence built None of it was mine Not the photographs, not the name But standing in that quiet Something happened just the same None of it was mine Except the pause we chose to keep The one I always fill The one she finally let me keep Phyllis said find the silence, let it stay Every part of me wanted to look away Productive struggle, that's the word I found Standing in a room that wasn't holding ground [None of it was mine Not the photographs, not the name But standing in that quiet Something happened just the same None of it was mine Except the pause we chose to keep The one I always fill The one she finally let me keep Fluid and honest turned out to be the same Somewhere past the point I could explain Listening was never the wait before I spoke It was the pause I chose not to break I don't know yet what I'll carry from that room I know the quiet's coming for me soon Next time someone I love is talking and I'm already set to speak I know which one I'm supposed to keep
