[Verse 1] I said I’d soon be coming back before the year had worn me down. Then work, then love, then this and that. I kept the promise, not the town. I pictured you beside the Spree, a little older, still the same. A life with room left out for me. I never asked. I booked the plane. [Chorus] Berlin didn’t wait. The Spree took back the light. I came back late and called the timing right. The streets were where I left them. The view was mine to see. I thought I’d kept a promise. I thought you’d kept a place for me. [Verse 2] The S-Bahn ran above the street, red rooftops slid beyond the glass. I held the old map at my feet and let the newer city pass. You met me with a child’s spare coat, a list of things to do by five. I heard the years in every note and wondered when you’d changed your life. [Chorus] Berlin didn’t wait. The Spree took back the light. I came back late and called the timing right. The streets were where I left them. The view was mine to see. I thought I’d kept a promise. I thought you’d kept a place for me. [Bridge] You never asked me not to go. You never said you’d hold this still. I brought a person you used to know and asked you to remember him at will. [Outro] I walked along the Spree alone. The evening windows started to glow. I put the old view in my phone beside the life I didn’t know. “A coffee, if you’ve time tomorrow?” I sent it without saying more. Then found a street I didn’t know, bought bread beneath a Späti glow.
