[Intro: Instrumental | soft piano | distant cello | slow and intimate | no vocals] [Verse 1: female lead | sparse piano | guarded and low] I learned to leave before the questions, Learned which doors were mine to close, [Female] Kept my name inside the shadows, Kept my heart where no one goes. [Female] Every hand became a memory, Every promise found an end, [Female] So I called the silence safety, And the distance called me friend. [Verse 2: male lead | acoustic guitar enters | gentle and steady] **Male** I learned that grief could share a table That an empty chair could stay That a life could break around you And still ask you for the day [Male Lead | warm baritone | acoustic guitar enters | gentle and steady] **Male** I stopped waiting for an answer Stopped pretending loss was proof That the heart should close forever Once it learned what time could do [Pre-Chorus: Female and Male Call-and-Response | cello rising | restrained tension] [Female Lead] **Female** You saw the rooms I kept unlit I gave you fragments, names, and scars [Male Lead] **Male** You left the door unlocked for me You gave me only what you could [Both Voices] **Both** And somewhere in the space between The fear became understood [Chorus: Female and Male Duet | alternating pairs | both voices on final eight lines | warm strings] [Female Lead] **Female** I cannot give forever I cannot stop the ending [Male Lead] **Male** I never asked you to I only want what’s true [Both Voices] **Both** So give me every morning Every ordinary thing The coffee cooling on the table The quiet that we bring We are not what time can promise We are not what time may take We are every choice between them We are what we choose to make [Verse 3: Male Lead | brushed percussion enters | conversational warmth] **Male** I loved the way you fought the future While building one beside my chair Every rule became a doorway Every warning brought you near You thought I needed all your answers Or a reason you survived I only needed you to trust me With the truth that you were alive [Verse 4: Female Lead | piano and cello | more open but restrained] **Female** You never tried to make me smaller Never asked me to forget You let the dead remain beside me Without becoming one of them yet And when your hands began to tremble When the years had found your face I learned that love was not preventing What no love could ever change [Pre-Chorus: Female and Male Call-and-Response | strings building | intimate urgency] [Male Lead] **Male** Do not turn me into silence Keep the doors and windows open [Female Lead] **Female** Do not ask me not to grieve Stay until you have to leave [Both Voices] **Both** Nothing ever becomes safe But some things can be shared And love is not the absence of loss It is choosing to be there [Chorus: Female and Male Duet | alternating pairs | both voices on final eight lines | fuller arrangement] [Female Lead] **Female** I cannot give forever I cannot stop the ending [Male Lead] **Male** I never asked you to I only want what’s true [Both Voices] **Both** So give me every morning Every ordinary thing The books left open on the counter The bell beginning to ring We are not what time can promise We are not what time may take We are every choice between them We are what we choose to make [Bridge: Female and Male Call-and-Response | piano and cello only | close intimate vocals] [Female Lead] **Female** When the room grows still without you When I reach across the table I will carry you beside them I will keep the things we made [Male Lead] **Male** Let the morning find you there Remember what we shared But do not carry me alone Let the light return again [Both Voices] **Both** Keep the road beneath your footsteps Keep a light inside the home [Instrumental Lift | cello swell | acoustic guitar | subtle Celtic fiddle | no vocals] [Final Chorus: Female and Male Duet | distinct lead passages | layered harmony on final section | hopeful but restrained] [Male Lead] **Male** I never needed forever Every day was worth the ending [Female Lead] **Female** I only feared the cost Every love was not a loss [Both Voices] **Both** We had every morning Every ordinary thing Two cups waiting on the table And the bell beginning to ring We were never time’s to promise We were never time’s to save We were every choice between them Every gift the other gave [Outro: Female first | Male response | Both Voices on final line | piano alone | nearly whispered] [Female Lead] **Female** Morning found the open doorway [Male Lead] **Male** Light moved slowly through the shop [Both Voices] **Both** The little brass bell sounded And the road went on
