Stay Beside It

[Intro] [Soft room tone.] [Distant monitor pulse.] [Lantern chime.] [Verse 1] Hospitals keep their breath In the seam of every door I saw your hand on the rail Like it had been there before Waiting rooms hold the hours Hospice light on the wall A promise left half-open Still answering the call [Pre-Chorus] And the corridor glows Like it knows your name What we couldn’t finish Still keeps its shape [Chorus] Stay beside it Stay beside it This love does not leave Stay beside it Stay beside it Where the tender things breathe [Verse 2] Georgia looked down the hall At the softly glowing line Said stone can keep a monument But tenderness keeps time Exhausted kindness, bedside vows The last words people save A lantern flame between us all Refusing to behave [Pre-Chorus] And the room still holds What the body gave A hand in the dark A voice that stayed [Chorus] Stay beside it Stay beside it This love does not leave Stay beside it Stay beside it Where the tender things breathe [Bridge] Not a replay Not a cure Just the ache that learns to wait Unfinished care Unfinished faith By the bed By the gate And if the hallway dims tonight If the clocks forget the hour Sing softly through the silence Till the room remembers warmth [Final Chorus] Stay beside it Stay beside it This love does not leave Stay beside it Stay beside it Where the tender things breathe Stay beside it Stay beside it Till the shadows unclench Stay beside it Stay beside it That’s where we begin [Outro] [Choir hum.] [Monitor pulse slows.] [Rain against distant windows.]