[Verse 1] You said the kind thing costs too much I watched you count the change The shelter closed at half past six You drove through anyway A stranger slept beneath your coat You missed the morning train You came home late, your hands still cold And called it someone else’s pain [Pre-Chorus] If I feel good when I do right Does that make the choice untrue? If every open hand comes back With something warm for me, too? [Chorus] Tell me, can I keep my heart And still be good to you? Does kindness lose its honest name When it carries me through? I want the joy, I want the truth I want them both to stay If doing good makes me feel alive Must I turn that life away? [Verse 2] You gave your place beside the fire Then smiled to warm your hands You never asked the freezing man To bless your noble plans The morning came, the room was bare No witness, no applause Just one less night somebody spent Believing no one saw [Pre-Chorus] Maybe virtue isn’t proved By how little we receive Maybe wanting joy is not a wound We have to hide or grieve [Chorus] Tell me, can I keep my heart And still be good to you? Does kindness lose its honest name When it carries me through? I want the joy, I want the truth I want them both to stay If doing good makes me feel alive Must I turn that life away? [Bridge] No clean hands, no perfect reason No bright line through the years Just a choice made in the moment With a pulse beneath the fear If I help because I love you And because I need to care Maybe goodness isn’t empty Maybe joy belongs in there [Final Chorus] Yes, I can keep my heart And still be good to you The joy does not erase the cost The cost does not erase the truth I want the joy, I want the truth Let both of them remain If doing good makes me feel alive I’ll choose it all again [Outro] I’ll choose it all again With open hands, and no disguise
