///*****/// [Intro] Paper on the kitchen table Rain against the pane [Verse 1] It is folded in a shoebox Underneath the winter coats Nineteen eighty-four in pencil And a river full of notes I said everything I meant to And I meant it more than most But the stamp stayed in the drawer And the words became a ghost [Pre-Chorus] And I told myself tomorrow Like tomorrow was a friend But the seasons kept on turning And the turning had no end [Chorus] It is the letter I never sent The bravest thing I never said All the love I could not carry Lying quiet in my head If I had walked it to the corner If I had licked it and let it go I would not be standing at your window Twenty winters in the snow Oh, the letter I never sent [Verse 2] I have rehearsed it in the mirror I have whispered it in cars I have said it to a bottle And to every closing bar There is a version where I told you And it changed the way we grew And that version keeps on living In the part of me that is you [Pre-Chorus] And the paper has gone yellow And the pencil has gone grey But the sentence in the middle Never faded once away [Chorus] It is the letter I never sent The bravest thing I never said All the love I could not carry Lying quiet in my head If I had walked it to the corner If I had licked it and let it go I would not be standing at your window Twenty winters in the snow Oh, the letter I never sent [Verse 3] I saw you in a train station Nineteen ninety-one or two You had a child up on your shoulder And a life I never knew And I had the letter with me Like I always seem to do And my hand went to my jacket And the train pulled out with you And I stood there in the diesel With the whistle going thin Holding all the wrong I never did And the war I never win [Pre-Chorus] There is a version where I ran Where I shouted out your name There is a version where you turned And nothing stayed the same [Bridge] There is a courage that arrives too late And knocks and finds you gone There is a life you almost lived That you keep on living on [Guitar Solo] [Final Chorus] So here is the letter I never sent Every word I should have known Take it now or take it never Only do not leave it alone I have carried it through the cold Longer than a man should go And the ink still says I love you In a hand from long ago Oh, the letter I never sent [Coda] So if you get a heavy envelope On some ordinary day With a hand you half remember From a country far away Do not put it in a shoebox Do not lay it down to rest Take it out into the daylight Take it out and read the rest [Outro] Rain against the pane Rain against the pane And the shoebox in the dark Keeping something warm Keeping something warm and true Keeping every word of you Rain against the pane And the ink that still remains Twenty winters in the snow Oh, the letter
