[Intro — whispered, clean guitar, distant drone] The evening caught inside your curtains And painted every wall with rust You stared beyond the window Like there was somewhere else to trust The machines kept counting seconds While your breathing fought the night And there was still a little summer Hiding somewhere in your eyes [Verse 1 — low, raspy, intimate] The medicine lined the dresser Like soldiers that had lost the war Your clothes hung loose around you Your footsteps barely crossed the floor The sickness stole your appetite Then took your strength away But somehow you still smiled at me Like you could make the darkness wait I hated every quiet morning When the bed looked twice as wide Hated how the sunlight stopped Before it reached your side But when you looked at me that evening Something in your face remained Like July had left one ember In a house already full of rain [Pre-Chorus — building] The room went copper The window turned red The day folded slowly Around your bed You said my name I held your hand And prayed that time Would understand [Chorus — huge, emotional rock vocal] One last time To watch the sunset in your eyes One last time To memorize the summer hiding inside One last time Before the color leaves your side One last time Before the evening closes its eyes There's still a little July Burning behind your eyes And I don't know how to save it... I just know I can't look away. [Verse 2 — heavier guitars] The cancer never looked like fire It looked like little things going wrong A cup you couldn't lift anymore A shirt that suddenly hung too long A staircase became a mountain A doorway became a mile And somehow through the wreckage You still found a way to smile We stopped talking about forever Like forever owed us anything We talked about the dirt road And the porch where crickets sing You said you'd miss the smell of rain I said I'd miss your laugh You whispered, “Don't make me promise When tonight is all we have.” [Chorus — heavier, layered vocals] One last time To watch the sunset in your eyes One last time To hold the last warm place you left behind One last time While the sky turns bruised above the pines One last time Before the evening pulls the curtain wide There's still a little July Burning behind your eyes And if that's all you have left... Then let me spend it with you. [Breakdown — stripped down, haunting] Cold kisses in mid July... Your lips were cold against mine The window was open to the heat But you shivered like wintertime Your heartbeat stumbled underneath me Then found its rhythm once again Like a match struck in a rainstorm Refusing to surrender to the wind I wanted to tear the hands Off every clock inside the room But all I could do was hold you And watch the evening bloom [Bridge — quiet, then building] You said... “Don't remember me like this.” I said... “I couldn't if I tried.” Because beneath the hospital white I still saw the girl from July Bare feet across the kitchen floor Rainwater running through the roof Laughing like the world was broken And somehow that was proof For one final moment The sickness disappeared There was only you... Only me... And that red river of evening Spilling across the floor. [Final Chorus — starts quiet, then erupts] You waited for me at death's doorstep Just so I could see the sunset once last time You were already halfway gone But you still made room for me beside you I watched the evening thread itself Through every line across your face Until the final crimson thread Was swallowed by the gray You gave me all your daylight When your own hands couldn't hold it You left your warmth inside my chest And somehow I still feel it So let the years come rusting down Let every photograph turn pale I'll carry that July inside me Like a fire beneath the nails [Climax — soaring raspy vocal] One last time... I watched the sunset in your eyes. One last time... And you turned your last light into mine. [Silence] You left before the sunset did... But the sunset never left me. [Outro — clean guitar, distant harmony] Now when July gets quiet And the windows turn red I don't look for you in heaven... I look for you in the places Where the daylight hesitates. And when the sun slips underneath the trees... I see it again. That little piece of July... Still burning. Still yours. Still in my eyes. [Final Chorus — starts quiet, then erupts] You waited for me at death's doorstep Just so I could see the sunset one last time You were already halfway gone But you still made room for me beside you I watched the evening thread itself Through every line across your face Until the final crimson thread Was swallowed by the gray You gave me all your daylight When your own hands couldn't hold it You left your warmth inside my chest And somehow I still feel it So let the years come rusting down Let every photograph turn pale I'll carry that July inside me Like a fire beneath the nails [Climax — soaring raspy vocal] One last time... I watched the sunset in your eyes. One last time... And you turned your last light into mine. [Silence] You left before the sunset did... But the sunset never left me. [Outro — clean guitar, distant harmony] Now when July gets quiet And the windows turn red I don't look for you in heaven... I look for you in the places Where the daylight hesitates. And when the sun slips underneath the trees... I see it again. That little piece of July... Still burning. Still yours. Still in my eyes.
