How Can You Love A Devil Like me

[Intro: Bare piano, intimate rasspy ,smokey male baritone, fragile and close] [Man] How can somebody like you love a devil like me? What kind of goodness do you see? Even my own mirror wears a face of shame. And you still look at me like I'm not to blame. [Verse I: Fingerpicked acoustic guitar, warm female alto] [Woman] I see you turn away when I get too close. I see you hide the parts that hurt you most. You think I don't know what you're trying to hide, but I've seen the man you keep locked inside. [Man] You see a light I cannot find. You hold a heart I left behind. I wish I knew what you see in me. I wish I knew how to believe. [Pre-Chorus: Soft piano, two voices drawing closer] [Woman] You call yourself a monster like the name makes it true. [Man] Then tell me, my angel, what am I to you? [Chorus: Both voices, haunting melody, restrained drums building] [Man] How can you love a devil like me, my angel? How can you reach for these hands of mine? I've got a thousand reasons you should leave me, you give me one reason to try. [Woman] You're not the worst thing you've ever done. You're not the war you lost. You keep counting all your broken pieces, never asking what they're worth. [Both] How can you love a devil like me? How can you still believe? [Verse II: Instruments recede, raw male vocal] [Man] Something broke in me before I knew what a life was supposed to feel like. I watched the world through a window and never felt I belonged inside. I tried to love. I tried to stay. Somehow I hurt the ones who came. Now every time you say my name, I fear you'll learn to do the same. [Verse III: Female vocal, tender but strong] [Woman] I've never asked you to be perfect. I've never needed you without scars. You keep standing there in judgment while I'm just trying to reach your heart. I can't undo the years behind you. I can't take away the pain. But I won't let the voice that hates you tell me who you are again. [Bridge: Piano alone, his voice nearly breaking] [Man] How can you love a devil like me? Don't you see what I cannot hide? What if all the good you see is something I left far behind? [Woman, softly] Then why do you still worry that you'll hurt me when you try? Why does it matter so much to you if you make me cry? [Man, after a long pause] Because you're the first thing in my life I don't want to lose. [Final Chorus: Full acoustic arrangement, powerful contrasting vocals, his voice finally opens up] [Man] How can you love a devil like me, my angel? I still see the darkness when I close my eyes. I've spent my whole life believing I'm the reason good things die. [Woman] I don't need you to be perfect. I don't need you without fear. I just need the man who wants to love me to stop disappearing when I'm here. [Man] I can't promise I won't stumble. I can't promise I'll be whole. But I don't want the hate I have for myself to take the one thing I still hold. [Both, soaring harmony] How can you love a devil like me? How can you still believe? Maybe there's a man beneath this shame who's worth the love you see. [Outro: Drums fall away, piano and two voices remain] [Man, quietly] I don't know how to love myself. [Woman] Then let me love you while you learn. [Man, voice trembling but warm] if I let you in, will you stay when the tables turn? [Woman] I'm not asking for forever. I'm asking for tonight. [Man, a small breath before singing] Then take my hand I'll try to see what you see in me. [Both, gentle and rising into one final harmony] Maybe love can reach a devil. Maybe he can still be free. [End: One warm piano chord, natural decay]