[Intro — soft piano, sparse] [Verse 1] There's a photograph on the mantle Caught in the dust and the afternoon sun She's laughing at something I can't remember A birthday, a summer, a race that she won I'm standing right here in the doorway She walks through the hall and she doesn't look up I used to think she was just growing distant I used to think maybe I'd done something wrong [Pre-Chorus — strings enter] But the coffee goes cold where I left it And the keys on the hook never move And the mirror forgets how to hold me The longer I try to stay true [Chorus — full band, restrained] I watched her walk down the aisle in white I watched her bury her mother one grey July I reached for her hand and I swear she almost smiled Oh, I have been here all her life I have been here all her life [Verse 2] I saw her drop out of college I saw her come back with a fire in her chest I saw her hold a baby at midnight Whispering promises into its rest I tried to tell her I was proud of her I tried to tell her the words that I'd saved But the windows don't rattle, the candles don't flicker There's only the shape of the things that I gave [Pre-Chorus] And the coffee goes cold where I left it And the keys on the hook never move And I'm starting to notice the quiet Is louder than anything I knew [Chorus] I watched her walk down the aisle in white I watched her bury her mother one grey July I reached for her hand and I swear she almost smiled Oh, I have been here all her life I have been here all her life [Bridge — piano and strings only, vocal drops quieter] There's a night I keep returning to Rain on the road, a pair of headlights wide She was sixteen, she was waiting up for me And somewhere between the turn and the other side — I just kept driving home I just kept driving home I just kept driving home I never made it home [Final Chorus — bigger, cathartic] So I watched her walk down the aisle in white I watched her bury her mother one grey July I reached for her hand and she looked straight through the light Oh, I have not been here all her life I have not been here since she was sixteen I have not been here since she was sixteen [Outro — piano fades, single held string note] There's a photograph on the mantle… She's laughing at something I can't remember
