[Intro] [music box, slow 6/8, sub-bass floor barely audible] ... ... [Verse 1] [close-mic vocal, almost spoken, breath audible, no reverb, mezzo-piano max] You learned to hide before you spoke, before your feelings had a name. Love was something you'd avoid… ... or something wrapped in quiet shame. [fingerpicked nylon guitar joins, simple, rocking] No one showed you how to stay when it started getting real. So you taught your heart to disappear… ... and called it strength to never feel. [Pre-Chorus] [music box thins, voice closer, more intimate] And I see you standing there, on the edge of something true. ... Hands shaking like if you reach out… it'll swallow you. [Chorus] [music box, fingerpicked nylon guitar, 6/8 rocking, simple I-vi-IV, high register] You're not cold… just scared of a love you never knew. Every time it gets too close, you don't know what to do. I thought you were safe— somewhere I could fall into. ... But you don't know how to stay when I'm reaching for you. [Verse 2] [guitar continues, sub-bass slightly more present] I tried to meet you where you were, but you kept moving out of reach. Like love was just a weight… ... you were never meant to keep. [hush voice, even softer] I was building something real— you were bracing for the end. I was asking you to stay… ... you were learning to pretend. [Pre-Chorus] [music box pauses briefly, guitar bare] And I felt you slipping out every time I needed more. ... Like love was just a door you couldn't walk through anymore. [Chorus] [full lullaby texture returns, tender] You're not cold… just scared of a love you never knew. Every time it gets too close, you don't know what to do. I thought you were safe— somewhere I could fall into. ... But you don't know how to stay when I'm reaching for you. [Bridge] [music box stops, guitar fingerpicked alone, voice almost whispered] And I see the boy you were— never held long enough. ... Never told he was enough. [pitched-down vocal double, octave below, slight delay, blurred, ghostly] [shadow harmony enters underneath] I would've loved him… ... [suspended open chord, music box returns thin, voices held together] softly. [hush voice continues, shadow harmony fading in and out] Taught him how to feel. That being scared won't break him… ... that love can be real. [Final Chorus] [lullaby returns, but thinner, something has shifted] You're not cold… just scared, still carrying what you were. Every wall you ever built was to cover up the hurt. I tried to be safe, tried to give you something true. ... But I can't keep holding on to someone who won't choose. [Pre-Outro] [everything drops to sub-bass floor — one breath of space] ... [music box returns alone, no guitar, no voice yet] ... [Outro] [hush voice, barely above breath, music box rocking gently] I don't hate you… ... I just wish you knew. [shadow harmony returns one last time, soft] You were always worth love. ... You just… ... never knew. [suspended open chord, music box thinning to single notes, sub-bass fading] ... ...
