I used to talk about the future Like it had my name in lights Big plans drawn in pencil On long and restless nights Said I’d never fold under Said I’d never settle down Funny how the loudest vows Fade without a sound I see him in the mirror In the lines around my eyes The man I didn’t become Still asking me why The man I didn’t become Still stands somewhere inside Not angry, not accusing Just hard to look in the eye He’s everything I almost was Everything I let outrun I live with who I am And the man I didn’t become I chose the steady paycheck I chose the safer road Watched a few more daring dreams Slip out of my hold Told myself that growing up Meant putting fire away But something in me still remembers What it felt like to burn that way Sometimes late in the evening When the house is still and numb I hear the boots of someone The man I didn’t become The man I didn’t become Ain’t a ghost, ain’t a sin He’s just the weight of choices And the roads I didn’t begin He’s not better, just undone By the turns I never took I made peace with who I am And the man I didn’t become Maybe we all leave a version Standing somewhere in the dust Not dead, not disappointed Just shaped by different trust I can’t go back and find him Can’t undo what’s done But I can live wide awake With the man I didn’t become
