[Verse] A certain kind of beauty leaves no doubt Every word arrives exactly as it should come out Grace moves softly, never asking to be seen Nothing feels excessive, nothing falls between Such rare perfection seems too close to fate I've learned my whole life to wait [Pre-Chorus] Getting closer Almost closer [Chorus] Never quite, the feeling that can make my whole world still Never quite, the kind of love that bends my world to will There must be someone carrying a radiance beyond compare With every feature falling flawlessly through the air Never quite, No awkward edge to soften, no uncertainty to bear The nearer that perfection seems, the stronger grows my need To find the one untouched by anything that isn't guaranteed Never quite So close to something sacred So sweet it feels complete The answer keeps on moving Whenever it seems within reach Never quite Never ... Never ... Never quite [Verse] Then comes a presence with a different kind of fire A careless laugh could lift my world a little higher Stories wandered sideways, leaving plans behind Yet somehow all that chaos made the ordinary shine One morning brought a habit that I had never foreseen A stubborn little contradiction where perfection should have been The smallest deviation suddenly became too loud And what had felt enchanting no longer stands out proud [Pre-Chorus] Something is changing The edges start to show Let go, let go, let go ... [Chorus] Never quite the person that the picture promised there Never quite the answer hidden underneath the flawless air One crooked little detail becomes impossible for me to forgive A human inconsistency becomes a debt to be repaid The warmth remains intoxicating, the attraction doesn't fade Never quite, Yet every unfamiliar quality becomes impossible to ignore A single contradiction turns attraction into doubt And I can't let the picture bend, so love is ruled out Never quite A fraction out of order A fault beneath the gloss One step beyond perfection And everything is lost Never quite Never ... Never ... Never quite [Verse] Afterward the pattern finds another willing face A promising beginning slowly gives away its place Somebody comes remarkably close, then misses by a thread A single trait becomes the reason something beautiful is dead Meanwhile the years keep moving with a life I never taste Whole mornings disappear beneath impossible demands Affection keeps arriving in a form I can't accept While somewhere in the distance waits the flaw I must reject [Bridge] There never was a perfect one beyond the farthest door That flawless shape was something I had never found before Each rule had grown from wanting more than anyone could be Until the thing I worshipped had no room for humanity Perfection could remain immaculate because it couldn't breathe No history could alter it, no stranger could deceive The image wasn't waiting, I had built it to never bend And every living possibility was measured at its end [Pre-Chorus] The truth is clear The years are gone Too late, too late, too late for me [Final-Chorus] Never quite the phrase becomes the echo of a life I denied Never quite the standard's standing between my heart and every other side I wanted love without the friction and change without the pain A promise that could never shift, a feeling I could chain Never quite Cuz love begins precisely where the certainty gives way Where someone can surprise my heart and still decide to stay The flaws I couldn't tolerate were proof that someone lived And knowing what it costs me, can't make up for my lost years or even forgive Never quite [Outro] Perhaps another life can learn from this Before the perfect answer steals the chance to live Let something unexpected enter without fear Allow a little imperfection to draw near If one heart stays open after hearing how this ends Then all my years of searching might still serve as a warning to them What could not become my happiness may help somebody else Choose the living over the flawless, and accept them as themselves Leave room for the difference Let the unfinished stay Love what can't be measured Before it slips away Never quite... Never quite is never on your side! Never quite...
