The Sea Between

[Intro | Soft piano, distant waves, intimate female vocal] I left the light on in the hall, though no one's coming home tonight. Your coat is hanging by the door. I pass it every night. Funny what a house becomes when one voice doesn't answer back. The floorboards still remember you. I wish I could do that. [Verse 1 | Piano and low cello] They spoke as if they'd seen it all, They spoke as if they'd seen it all, as if the truth were theirs to keep. They took you past those iron doors while I stood there on my feet. I watched the distance take your face. I couldn't make my fingers move. You looked at me across the room. I had no words to give to you. Was it fear? Was it goodbye? Were you asking me to trust you when the whole world chose a lie? [Pre-Chorus | Strings slowly rising] I keep thinking they'll come back. Someone will admit they're wrong. But morning comes through empty windows, and the days keep dragging on. [Chorus | Restrained, aching vocals] There's a sea between us now, and a thousand miles of stone. You're somewhere breathing in the dark, and I'm here learning to be alone. I don't know what they've taken, what they've left for you to keep. I only know the man I love is somewhere I can't reach. And if you whisper in the dark, does a part of you still hear me? You're still out there. You're still out there. So why does it feel like you've disappeared? [Verse 2 | Subtle percussion enters] I hear your laughter in a crowd and turn before I realize. I catch myself saving you a place, then look away and wonder why. They tell me time will make it easier, as if time has ever cared. I still reach across the bed some nights and find nobody there. I wonder if you sleep at all. I wonder if you dream of home. If the walls are cold against your skin, if you think you're there alone. And God, I hope you're angry still. I hope there's something they can't take. I'd rather know you curse the world than think you've let it wash away. [Pre-Chorus | Stronger vocal, restrained emotion] I would have stood there in your place. I would have said your name aloud. But I was standing in the silence while they disappeared you in a crowd. [Chorus | Fuller strings, delicate harmonies] There's a sea between us now, and a thousand miles of stone. You're somewhere breathing in the dark, and I'm here learning to be alone. I don't know what they've taken, what they've left for you to keep. I only know the man I love is somewhere I can't reach. And if you whisper in the dark, does a part of you still hear me? You're still out there. You're still out there. So why does it feel like you've disappeared? [Bridge | Nearly silent, voice and piano] I used to think the worst was losing someone before you said goodbye. Now I know there are a hundred ways to watch a person disappear while knowing they're alive. I cannot write to where you are. I cannot reach you through the sea. There are things I wish I'd told you that will have to wait in me. And if you've started to forget the sound of someone saying home, I hope you know there was a place where you were never just a name. Where you were more than what they said. Where you were loved before the world decided you were better left for dead. [Instrumental Rise | Cello, distant drums, layered harmonies] [Final Chorus | Full, aching vocals, no triumphant resolution] There's a sea between us now, but it hasn't changed a thing. They can lock you underneath the world. They cannot change what you mean to me. And I don't know how long I'll wait, or who I'll be when you come through. I only know that if you make it back, I'll leave the light on still for you. If you whisper in the dark, if you wonder if I'm waiting, I'm still here