I know what I said. And I meant it then. I said I'd wake beside you when we're old I saw the house, the table, winter coats I wasn't making promises for effect I could see every year when I said it So if you keep the letters in that drawer Don't read them like I knew we'd lose it all Every line was true when I was writing Every future had your name inside it Time didn't catch me in a lie It only changed what I could promise with my life I meant it then Every always, every never let you go I meant it then When forever was the only thing I knew Don't make a liar of the woman Who was certain when she said it Just because I'm not her now Doesn't make her love pretend I won't say it now But I meant it then You said we'd never sleep with backs turned cold You swore we'd talk before the silence grew And I believe you meant that in the kitchen With your hands around my waist at twenty-two We didn't break because we fooled each other We changed in ways we couldn't see ahead There are promises that fail without betrayal There are honest words we simply outlive Maybe truth can have a time Maybe losing it does not rewrite the night I meant it then Every always, every never let you go I meant it then When forever was the only thing I knew Don't make a liar of the woman Who was certain when she said it Just because I'm not her now Doesn't make her love pretend I won't say it now But I meant it then I won't burn the photographs To make leaving easier I won't turn our best years Into evidence against us You were right for who I was I was right for who you were And for longer than we knew That was enough So let me keep the truth Without keeping you I meant it then Every morning, every city, every plan I meant it then And I'd rather lose forever Than deny the love we had I can stand here without reaching I can leave without regretting I can change what I believe Without changing what I felt I don't mean it now But God, I meant it then That's the complicated part. Both things can be true.
