Come Back Different (639 Hz)

[SCREEN DOOR CREAK] [RESONATOR — ONE NOTE] [BOOT] [BOOT] [FIDDLE] [VERSE 1] You were the lock On an old screen door. I was the wind Coming through. You were trying To hold the whole house together. I was trying To show you the view. I touched places You boarded up. You put weight On my restless hands. I showed you Where the walls were cracking. You taught me Why some walls still stand. And Lord— We loved like weather. Lightning. Rain. Flame. But loving somebody deeply Don't teach you How to stay. [HOUSE PULSE ENTERS] [PRE-CHORUS] We ran the same circle. Called it fate Every time. You'd disappear Into silence. I'd go searching For a sign. But maybe love Ain't measured By how hard Two people burn. Maybe love Is what becomes possible After both people Learn. [CHORUS] IF YOU COME BACK— COME BACK DIFFERENT. Don't bring the silence That broke what we were given. Don't bring the old fear. Don't bring the old distance. If you come back— COME BACK DIFFERENT. I won't ask you To remember who I was. Meet the person I've become If becoming Brings us close enough. And I'll meet you there too— Open. Listening. Same fire. DIFFERENT SYSTEM. [FIDDLE] [LES PAUL ANSWERS] [VERSE 2] I wasn't trying To break you. Maybe I touched What was already loose. You weren't trying To cage me. Maybe you wondered What my freedom would do. That's the thing About two mirrors Standing face to face— Eventually beauty Ain't the only thing Showing up In that space. You made consequence Real to me. I made possibility Loud. You taught lightning How to find ground. I pulled questions Out of the clouds. And leaving Didn't make that meaningless. It just changed What it became. Some people Leave the room— And somehow Stay inside The frame. [CHORUS] IF YOU COME BACK— COME BACK DIFFERENT. Come back speaking When every old instinct says— Hide. No disappearing When something gets real. No chasing Somebody through the night. If you come back— COME BACK DIFFERENT. And I'll come different too. No savior. No victim. No old script Wearing new clothes Trying to convince us It's new. Same fire. DIFFERENT SYSTEM. [HALF-TIME — UPRIGHT + BOOT] [VERSE 3] I know how The old story goes. Something gets real— Somebody gets gone. One heart gets quiet. One heart holds on. Time starts moving. Then somebody says— "I missed you All along." But missing Ain't architecture. Longing Ain't repair. Love can still exist And not know How to live there. So if two roads Ever cross again, Don't drag yesterday Through the door. I don't want Another resurrection Just to watch us die The same way As before. [BEAT CUT] COSMIC: You still love her? [LONG PAUSE] COSMIC: That's not The question anymore. [BOWED PSALTERY ENTERS] [BRIDGE] Maybe I was disruption. Maybe you were restraint. Maybe I showed you What couldn't stay hidden. Maybe you showed me Where freedom needs shape. Maybe neither of us Was supposed To save the other. Maybe love Was never asking us To surrender Who we are. Maybe two people Can matter profoundly— And still need Separate roads Until they know How to walk. [BUILD — EACH INSTRUMENT ENTERS ONE AT A TIME] Not from longing. [BOOT] Not from loneliness. [UPRIGHT] Not from memory. [BANJO] Not because The silence got heavy. [FIDDLE] Not because The stars lined up. [HOUSE KICK] Not because Some old feeling woke up. [LES PAUL] If you ever Walk through that door— Walk because You chose it. [DROP] And I'll do The same. [FINAL CHORUS] IF YOU COME BACK— COME BACK DIFFERENT! Come back honest! Come back willing! Come back speaking When your whole heart says— HIDE! Come back knowing I won't chase you And you don't have To run tonight! AND I'LL COME BACK DIFFERENT TOO! No savior! No victim! No ownership! No permission! Same two people? Maybe. Different decisions. Same fire— DIFFERENT SYSTEM! [ALL INSTRUMENTS FINALLY LOCK PERFECTLY TO THE HOUSE PULSE] COME BACK DIFFERENT! Different! Different! Same fire— DIFFERENT RHYTHM! Same eyes— DIFFERENT VISION! Same love— IF IT'S STILL THERE— Different system. [OUTRO — HOUSE PULSE DISAPPEARS] [ACOUSTIC + FIDDLE] You were the lock. I was the wind. Maybe neither one Needs to become Who we were Again. [SCREEN DOOR CREAKS] Maybe the deepest Kind of return Isn't going back To the beginning. [FOOTSTEPS APPROACH] [STOP] It's meeting At the door... [LONG SILENCE] And letting Each other Choose. [SCREEN DOOR REMAINS CLOSED] [END]