[Verse 1] There’s a certain kind of silence in the ones who learned to stay, Who’ve mistaken being needed for a reason not to fade. And they’ll give away the shelter while they’re standing in the rain, Never asking who might notice what the giving takes away. If you find yourself beside one, don’t mistake her being strong For the absence of a lifetime spent believing she was wrong. Somewhere underneath her kindness is a grief she cannot name, And the terrible suspicion she was only born to give away. [Pre-Chorus 1] And if she tells you she’s alright, Don’t take the words for what they’re worth. Some people learn to hold the light While quietly disappearing from the earth. [Chorus] If she gives you all the pieces that the world refused to keep, Don’t go searching for the damage in the promises she speaks. There’s a difference between breathing and believing you’ll survive, And a thousand ways to lose someone who’s standing there alive. If you ever get to love her, let it reach where words cannot, To the places she’s convinced herself the rest of you forgot. And if all she ever leaves behind is everything she gave, Let her know she was worth loving long before she learned to stay. [Verse 2] She’ll apologize for taking up the space beneath your sky, And call herself a burden when she finally starts to cry. She’ll remember every birthday, every sorrow, every scar, While forgetting she’s a person underneath the things you are. She’s been everybody’s witness, held their histories like stone, But there’s not a single chapter where she’s learned to call herself home. And the cruelest thing about her is the thing she cannot see: She would never let another soul believe what she believes. [Pre-Chorus 2] And if she says she needs no one, Remember what it cost to learn. Some hearts don’t fear the absence of love, They fear the hope of its return. [Chorus] If she gives you all the pieces that the world refused to keep, Don’t go searching for the damage in the promises she speaks. There’s a difference between breathing and believing you’ll survive, And a thousand ways to lose someone who’s standing there alive. If you ever get to love her, let it reach where words cannot, To the places she’s convinced herself the rest of you forgot. And if all she ever leaves behind is everything she gave, Let her know she was worth loving long before she learned to stay. [Bridge] And God, if there’s a mercy in this life, Let it find her while she’s living. She’s spent so long convincing everyone That she has nothing left worth giving. But let her hear it in the quiet, When there’s nothing left to prove. That she was never hard to cherish, Only taught she had to earn a love she thought she knew. [Final Chorus] And she is loved, God, she is loved, Beyond the weight she’s carried and the things that she’s become. She is loved when she is silent, when her strength is coming undone, She was worthy long before she ever learned to be enough. And if the world has taught her otherwise, let every voice rise up, Until the truth is louder than the lies she’s learned to trust. And when she cannot find the words for all she’s frightened of, Let the whole world answer softly: she is loved. [Outro — Softly, Almost Whispered] She is loved. In all the ways she never knew. She is loved. And there’s nothing left to prove.
