[Verse 1] We heard the news on an ordinary day, The kind where nothing beautiful gives way. The coffee cooled, the afternoon went on, The world stayed where it was when you were gone. We didn’t fall apart or ask what’s next, We didn’t search for meaning in the text. You spent your years rehearsing our goodbye, Then left us with no reason left to cry. [Pre-Chorus 1] Did we owe you one last chance to make amends? How many times can something broken bend? Did we leave you when you needed us the most? Or were we children growing up beside a ghost? [Chorus] Why weren’t we there to see you laid to rest? How many chances did you think you’d get? Why didn’t we believe you’d finally changed? Because we’d heard those promises for too many days. How many times did you swear that you were clean? How many times did you deceive, and we believed? You ask what kind of children wouldn’t come to say goodbye? The kind who spent their childhood learning how to survive. [Verse 2] We knew the sound of anger down the hall, The way a single word could start it all. We learned which truths were dangerous to say, And how to make ourselves seem far away. Then years went by, and you would call again, And swear that you were different from back then. We let you near the lives we’d fought to mend, Still hoping you’d become a dad in the end. [Pre-Chorus 2] Did we give up, or did we finally see You’d never be the man we needed you to be? Were we supposed to carry all your shame, When you were always the one to blame? [Chorus] Why weren’t we there to see you laid to rest? How many chances did you think you’d get? Why didn’t we believe you’d finally changed? Because we’d heard those promises for too many days. How many times did you swear that you were clean? How many times did you deceive, and we believed? You ask what kind of children wouldn’t come to say goodbye? The kind who spent their childhood learning how to survive. [Bridge] Will they wonder why we never came, Or whisper that we ought to feel ashamed? Will they speak of all the good in you, And leave out what you put your children through? We won’t apologize for staying away, Or find some kinder words we ought to say. You made your choices long before you died, We had to learn to make our peace while you were still alive. [Final Chorus] Why weren’t we there to see you laid to rest? How many chances did you think you’d get? Why didn’t we believe you’d finally changed? Because we’d heard those promises for too many days. How many times did you swear that you were clean? How many times did you deceive, and we believed? You ask what kind of children wouldn’t come to say goodbye? The kind who spent their childhood learning how to survive.
