I kept your place

[intro] [verse 1] the cushion kept a faded square long after i forgot your weight, i’d move the books, i’d move the flowers, somehow nothing ever stayed. sunlight crossed it every morning, drawing seasons on the floor, and i stopped remembering exactly what i thought i saved it for. at first i called it loyalty, the kind that younger people wear when waiting still feels beautiful enough to make an absence fair. years went by; the room got smaller, furniture came and disappeared but everybody learned somehow: don’t put anything there. [pre chorus] i thought i kept it where you left it. maybe that was true back then. now i’m not sure who i’m protecting when i clear it off again. [chorus] i kept your place long after you were gone, like leaving one small space untouched could keep something moving on. i kept your place through every other change, and i don’t even know if i would want you there today. this love left years ago. and habit took its shape. i only know i kept your place. [instrumental] [verse 2] a friend sat down there once by accident and i said, “could you move?” too fast; she looked at me like people do when present tense collides with past. i laughed it off, blamed something stupid, watched her choose another chair, then spent the evening wondering why my body knew before i cared. because i wasn’t seeing you there; that picture faded long ago. i was seeing who i used to be when wanting you was all i knew. she could make a whole religion from the possibility you’d come and maybe i kept feeding her because i couldn’t bear to watch her become someone i no longer was. [pre chorus] i thought i kept it where you left it. that isn’t quite the truth. maybe i kept one little corner where i could still be twenty two. [drum fill] [chorus] i kept your place long after you were gone, like leaving one small space untouched could keep something moving on. i kept your place through every other change, and i don’t even know if i would want you there today. this love left years ago. and habit took its shape. i only know i kept your place. [interlude] i wasn’t saving it for you anymore. i think... i was saving who i’d been when i still thought you’d come. [slow guitar solo] [final chorus] i kept your place long after you were gone, like leaving one small space untouched could keep something moving on. i kept your place through every other change, and i don’t even know if i would want you there today. this love left years ago! and habit took its shape. i only know i kept your place. [outro] i kept your place...