Intro — spoken, over dusty vinyl crackle) Yeah… They told me time heals… But nobody told me time remembers. Every birthday… Every win… Every loss… Still look over my shoulder… Looking for you. ⸻ Verse 1 Eighteen candles… Then the whole house turned cold. One phone call… Made tomorrow grow old. The walls kept your perfume, but your heartbeat packed its bags. I learned a man can smile outside while his soul is wearing rags. Everybody said, “Be strong.” Funny… Strength don’t come with instructions. So I graduated from crying in silence to surviving destruction. Mama… I was still asking life for permission to be a kid. Life answered… “Nah… Figure it out.” So I did. I carried groceries, dreams, regrets, all in the same arms. Every smile I gave the world was hiding fire alarms. ⸻ Hook Sometimes… I still dial Heaven hoping somebody picks up. Every blessing tastes different when the person you love ain’t here to lift the cup. I became a man before I knew the map. Still trying to hug you through a photograph. If tears could build bridges… I’d walk home tonight. Just one more “I’m proud of you”… Would probably save my life. ⸻ Verse 2 People see success… They don’t see the price tag. Sleepless nights… Heavy chest… Invisible backpack. I fought battles nobody clapped for. Shook hands with depression… Then politely closed the door. Some days… I hated mirrors. Not because I looked ugly… Because I looked older than I was supposed to. Every birthday after eighteen felt borrowed. Every celebration had a little sorrow. I learned… Pain don’t knock. It owns a key. And healing… Ain’t forgetting. It’s learning how to breathe with missing pieces. ⸻ Bridge If Heaven got visiting hours… Save me a chair. Tell God… Your son is trying. I still make mistakes. Still fall. Still get back up. Because that’s exactly what you would’ve wanted. ⸻ Final Verse Now every scar got your fingerprints. Every lesson got your voice inside it. When the world tried to convince me I wasn’t enough… I remembered… You never doubted me. So every victory… I split it in half. Half for me… Half for the woman who never got to see it happen. One day… When my story ends… Don’t cry for me. Just tell her… “I made it.” ⸻ Outro I wasn’t raised by absence. I was raised by memories. And maybe… Love never really dies. Maybe… It just learns… How to echo.
